LIBRARY 

UN5V;n»lTY  Of 
CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


THE  UNITED  STATES 
IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 


THE  UNITED  STATES 
IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 


BY 
JOHN  BACH  McMASTER 

PROFESSOR  OF  AMERICAN  HI8TORT  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 
AUTHOR  OF  A  HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1918 


COPTHIGHT,  1918,  BT 

JOHN  BACH  McMASTER 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

FIRST  LIEUTENANT  PHILIP  DURYEE  McMASTEB 
UNITED  STATES  ARMY  MEDICAL  CORPS 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  OPENING  OP  THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  ...        1 

II.  PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA — BELGIAN   RELIEF       .      23 

III.  NEUTRAL  TRADE 51 

IV.  SUBMARINE  FRIGHTPULNESS 82 

V.  THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES     .        .                .        .106 

VI.    AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED 132 

VII.  TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OP  GERMAN  OFFICIALS    .        .    158 

VIII.    SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING 198 

IX.    PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS 230 

X.  PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  IN  SEA  AND  ON  LAND      .        .    255 

XI.  THE  PEACE  NOTES        .        .        .        .        .        .290 

XII.  DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN   ....    315 

XIII.  WE  ENTER  THE  WAR 351 

XIV.  THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS 366 

XV.    GERMAN  INTRIGUE 397 

XVI.  RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING     .        .        .    '     .        .    418 

XVII.  INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE                                   433 


THE  UNITED  STATES  IN 
THE  WORLD  WAR 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   OPENING    OF   THE   WOELD   WAR 

JUNE  29,  1914,  the  newspapers  in  the  United  States  made 
known  to  their  readers  that  on  the  previous  day  the  Archduke 
Franz  Ferdinand,  heir  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  throne  and  his 
morganatic  wife,  the  Duchess  of  Hohenberg,  had  heen  assassi- 
nated in  Serajevo,  the  capital  of  the  Austrian  province  of 
Bosnia. 

The  event  was  no  new  occurrence  in  the  House  of  Austria. 
Within  forty-seven  years  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  had  lost, 
by  the  assassin's  hand,  his  brother,  his  son,  his  wife  and  now 
his  nephew.  During  a  day  or  two  the  murder  was  a  matter  of 
current  conversation;  but  ere  July  was  half  spent  the  crime 
had  been  almost  forgotten.  Our  trouble  with  Mexico,  home 
rule  for  Ireland,  the  doings  of  the  Ulster  men,  the  Caillaux 
trial,  the  violence  of  the  suffragettes  in  England  held  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public. 

Great  was  the  astonishment  of  our  countrymen,  therefore, 
when  they  read  in  the  newspapers  of  July  24,  that  cable  dis- 
patches from  London  reported  weakness  in  the  stock  markets 
of  Europe  caused  by  fear  of  war  between  Austria-Hungary  and 
Serbia,  and  the  possible  drawing  into  the  conflict  of  other  Euro- 
pean powers.  Newspapers  of  July  25  contained  a  dispatch  from 
London  setting  forth  that  an  ultimatum  of  unprecedented  se- 
verity had  been  sent  to  Serbia  by  Austria-Hungary;  that  it 
sought  to  fasten  on  Serbia  responsibility  for  the  assassination 

1 


2         THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

of  the  Archduke  and  his  wife,  that  compliance  with  the  de- 
mands of  the  dual  monarchy  would  be  a  confession  of  guilt,  that 
forty-eight  hours  were  allowed  in  which  to  reply,  and  that  Rus- 
sia was  seeking  extension  of  the  time  granted  Serbia.  Vienna 
dispatches  announced  that  if  Serbia  did  not  reply  before  six 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  July  25  her  minister  would  be  handed 
his  passports.  From  Berlin  came  reports  that  Germany  had 
been  consulted  by  Austria,  that  her  action  had  been  approved, 
that,  should  Russia  take  part  with  Serbia,  Germany  was  pre- 
pared to  draw  the  sword,  and  that  serious  developments  were 
expected  unless  Serbia  yielded.  July  27,  it  was  known  that 
passports  had  been  handed  the  Serbian  minister  and  that  Ger- 
many had  notified  the  powers  that  she  regarded  the  war  as 
between  Austria-Hungary  and  Serbia  and  that  it  must  be  local- 
ized. 

When,  some  months  later,  the  diplomatic  correspondence 
between  the  powers  was  given  to  the  world  in  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Red  Book,  the  Serbian  Blue  Book,  the  Russian  Orange 
Book,  the  German  White  Book,  the  French  Yellow  Book,  the 
Belgian  Gray  Book,  and  the  British  White  Paper,  some  faint 
glimmering  of  what  took  place  was  revealed. 

lit  then  came  to  light  that  during  the  interval  between  the 
twenty-eighth  of  June  and  the  twenty-third  of  July,  Austria- 
Hungary  had  investigated  the  murders  at  Serajevo,  and  had 
reached  the  conclusion  they  had  been  prepared  and  abetted  in 
Belgrade  with  the  help  of  Serbian  officials,  had  been  per- 
petrated with  arms  taken  from  the  Serbian  State  Arsenal,  were 
directly  connected  with  a  movement  long  going  on  in  Serbia 
to  revolutionize,  and  finally  tear  away  from  Austria  her  south- 
western provinces  and  join  them  to  Serbia,  and  that  in  this 
policy  Serbia  believed  herself  to  be  heartily  supported  by 
Russia.  Having  reached  this  conclusion,  Austria  decided  that 
the  time  had  gone  by  when  this  agitation  across  her  border 
could  longer  be  endured;  that  having  informed  her  ally,  Ger- 
many, of  this  decision  she  was  assured  that  any  action  taken 
would  be  approved,  and  that,  bent  on  war,  she  presented  to 
Serbia,  on  July  23,  1914,  not  a  note  but  an  ultimatum. 

In  this  ultimatum  the  direct  connection  between  the  Sera- 
jevo murders  and  the  pan-Serb  movement  was  stated  from  the 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  8 

Austrian  point  of  view.  Serbia  was  charged  with  fostering  a 
"propaganda  directed  against  Austria-Hungary,  .  .  .  whose 
aim  it  is  to  separate  from  the  monarchy  parts  which  belong  to 
it,"  was  required  to  publish  "on  the  first  page"  of  her  "official 
organ  of  July  26,  1914,"  a  humiliating  apology  in  words  dic- 
tated by  Austria,  bind  herself  to  do  ten  humiliating  things,  and 
return  her  answer  before  six  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  Saturday, 
'  July  25.  Copies  of  the  note  were  delivered  on  July  24,  to  the 
Governments  in  Berlin,  Rome,  Paris,  London,  St.  Petersburg 
and  Constantinople. 

The  demands  on  Serbia  were : 

1.  Suppress  any  publication  which  incites  hatred  of  the  Anstro- 
Hungarian  Monarchy. 

2.  Dissolve  at  once  the  Narodna  Odbrana  and  all  other  societies 
which  carried  on  propaganda  against  the  Austro-Hungarian  Mon- 
archy. 

3.  Eliminate  without  delay  from  public  instruction  in   Serbia, 
both  from  the  teaching  body  and  methods  of  instruction,  everything 
which  served  to  foment  feeling  against  Austria-Hungary. 

4.  Remove  from  military  and  administrative  service  every  officer 
guilty  of  propaganda  against  Austria-Hungary. 

5.  "Accept   the  collaboration   in    Serbia"    of   representatives    of 
Austria-Hungary    for    the    suppression    of    "subversive    movement 
directed  against  the  territorial  integrity  of  the  Monarchy." 

6.  Take  judicial  proceedings  against  the  accessories  to  the  mur- 
der at  Serajevo. 

7.  Arrest  Major  Voija  Tankositch  and  Milan  Ciganovitch,  "com- 
promised by  the  results  of  the  magisterial  inquiry  at  Serajevo." 

8.  Stop  the  illicit  traffic  in  arms  across  the  frontier,  dismiss  and 
punish  the  frontier  officials  at  Schabatz  and  Loznica  "guilty  of  hav- 
ing assisted  the  perpetrators  of  the  Serajevo  crime  by  facilitating 
their  passage  across  the  frontiers." 

9.  Explain  the  unjustifiable  utterances  of  high  Serbian  officials 
at  home  and   abroad  who   have  not  hesitated   since  the  crime  at 
Serajevo,  to  express  hostility  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government. 

10.  Notify  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  without  delay  of 
the  execution  of  the  preceding  demands.1 

The  whole  world  was  taken  by  surprise.     On  the  day  the 
ultimatum  was  delivered  Europe  seemed  to  be  in  a  state  of  per- 
fect peace.    It  was  vacation  time.    The  Serbian  Prime  Minister 
was  not  in  Belgrade ;  the  Russian  Ambassador  had  left  Vienna ; 
1  British  White  Paper,  No.  4. 


4         THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

• 

the  President  of  the  French  Eepublic  was  far  from  Paris;  the 
British  and  Eussian  Ambassadors  were  not  in  Berlin,  and  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  it  may  be  to  keep  up  appearances  of 
peace,  had  gone  northward  on  his  yacht. 

The  day  after  the  delivery  of  the  ultimatum  Germany 
warned  the  Entente  Powers  not  to  interfere.2  July  24  her 
Ambassador  appeared  before  the  French  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  and  read  a  note  verbale.  The  publications  of  Austria- 
Hungary  concerning  the  Serajevo  murders,  Germany  said,  dis- 
closed clearly  the  aims  of  the  pan-Serb  propaganda  and  the 
means  used  for  its  realization.  Serb  intrigue  could  be 
traced  back  through  a  series  of  years,  and  was  especially 
marked  during  the  Bosnian  crisis.  Only  the  self-restraint 
of  Austria,  and  the  energetic  intercession  of  the  powers  pre- 
vented a  conflict  at  that  time.  The  assurances  of  good  be- 
havior then  given  by  Serbia  had  not  been  kept.  Under  the 
very  eyes  of  official  Serbia  the  pan-Serb  propaganda  had  grown 
in  scope  and  intensity,  and  at  its  door  was  to  be  laid  this  latest 
crime  the  threads  of  which  led  to  Belgrade.  It  was  impossible 
for  Austria  to  any  longer  look  with  indifference  on  the  doings 
across  the  border.  Her  demands  were  justifiable.  But  the 
Serbian  Government  might  decline  to  meet  them,  and  "allow 
themselves  to  be  carried  away  into  a  provocative  attitude  to- 
wards Austria-Hungary."  In  that  event  nothing  remained  to 
Austria-Hungary  but  to  press  her  demands,  if  need  be,  with 
military  measures.  But  "in  the  present  case  there  is  only  ques- 
tion of  a  matter  to  be  settled  exclusively  between  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Serbia,"  and  the  Great  Powers  ought  seriously  to 
endeavor  to  restrict  it  to  those  two  immediately  concerned. 

"The  German  Government  desires  urgently  the  localization 
of  the  dispute  because  every  interference  of  another  power 
would,  owing  to  the  natural  play  of  alliances,  be  followed  by 
incalculable  consequences." 

The  part  taken  by  the  powers  began  with  a  proposal  from 
Russia  that  the  time  allowed  Serbia  be  extended.  On  July  24 
the  Russian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  instructed  the  Russian 
charge  at  Vienna  to  telegraph  London,  Rome,  Paris  and  Bel- 
grade that  to  prevent  the  incalculable  and  fatal  consequences  of 
*  German  White  Book,  Exhibit  1. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  5 

"the  course  of  action  followed  by  the  Austro-Hungarian  Gov- 
ernment it  seems  to  us  to  be  above  all  essential  that  the  period 
allowed  for  the  Serbian  reply  should  be  extended.  Austria- 
Hungary  having  declared  her  readiness  to  inform  the  Powers 
of  the  results  of  the  inquiry  upon  which  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  base  their  accusations,  should  equally  allow 
them  time  to  study  them."  3 

Sir  Edward  Grey  at  once  bade  the  British  Ambassador  at 
Vienna  "support  in  general  terms  the  steps  taken  by  your  Rus- 
sian colleague,"  4  and  the  French  Acting  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  telegraphed  the  French  Ambassador  at  Vienna:  "The 
Russian  Government  has  instructed  its  representative  at  Vienna 
to  ask  the  Austrian  Government  for  an  extension  of  the  time 
limit  fixed  for  Serbia.  ...  I  beg  you  to  support  the  request 
of  your  colleague."  5  But  Count  Berchtold  of  Austria  replied 
"we  cannot  consent  to  a  prolongation  of  time  limit.  .  .  .  Ser- 
bia, even  after  breaking  off  of  diplomatic  relations,  can  bring 
about  friendly  relations  by  unconditional  acceptance  of  our 
demands,  although  we  should  be  obliged  in  such  an  event  to 
demand  reimbursement  by  Serbia  of  all  costs  and  damages 
incurred  by  us  through  our  military  measures."  6 

Within  the  time  allowed  Serbia  made  her  reply  and  yielded 
to  all  the  demands  with  reasonable  limitations.  Austria  de- 
clared it  "insincere,"  "unsatisfactory,"  "evasive,"  as  not  fully 
complying  with  her  demands,  and  July  25  her  Minister  broke 
off  diplomatic  relations  and  left  Belgrade. 

And  now  Sir  Edward  Grey  came  forward  with  a  new 
proposition.  He  had  said  to  the  German  Ambassador,  just 
after  the  delivery  of  the  German  note  on  July  24,  that  "if  the 
Austrian  ultimatum  to  Serbia  did  not  lead  to  trouble  between 
Austria  and  Russia"  he  "had  no  concern  with  it,"  and  re- 
minded the  Ambassador  "that  some  days  ago  he  had  expressed 
a  personal  hope  that  if  need  arose"  Sir  Edward  "would  en- 
deavor to  exercise  moderating  influence  at  St.  Petersburg." 
But  in  view  of  the  stiff  character  of  the  note,  the  wide  range 
of  the  demands  of  Serbia,  Sir  Edward  did  not  believe  any 

•  Russian  Orange  Book,  No.  4. 

*  British  Blue  Paper,  No.  26. 
•French  Yellow  Book,  No.  39. 
•Austrian  Red  Book,  No.  20,  July  25L 


G        THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

power  could  exercise  influence  alone.  The  only  chance  for 
mediation  was  for  Germany,  Italy,  France  and  Great  Britain 
to  work  together  simultaneously  at  St.  Petersburg  and  Vienna.7 
To  the  British  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg  he  wrote: 
"The  sudden,  brusque,  and  peremptory  character  of  the  Austrian 
demarche  makes  it  almost  inevitable  that  in  a  very  short  time 
both  Russia  and  Austria  will  have  mobilized  against  each  other. 
In  this  event,  the  only  chance  of  peace,  in  my  opinion,  is  for 
the  other  four  Powers  to  join  in  asking  the  Austrian  and  Rus- 
sian Governments  not  to  cross  the  frontier,  and  to  give  time 
for  the  four  Powers  acting  at  Vienna  and  St.  Petersburg  to 
try  and  arrange  matters.  Jf  Germany  will  adopt  this  view,  I 
feel  strongly  that  France  and  ourselves  should  act  upon  it." 

Austria  having  rejected  the  reply  of  Serbia  and  having 
broken  diplomatic  relations,  there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  that 
Russia  and  Austria  would  mobilize  against  each  other,  and  Sir 
Edward  Grey  on  July  26  put  his  plan  into  operation  and 
inquired  of  Italy,  France  and  Germany  if  they  would  instruct 
their  representatives  in  London  to  join  "in  conference  imme- 
diately for  the  purpose  of  discovering  an  issue  which  would 
prevent  complications."  If  so,  requests  should  be  made  to 
Serbia,  Austria  and  Russia  "that  all  active  military  operations 
should  be  suspended  pending  results  of  conference."  France 
and  Italy  at  once  consented.  When  Russia  was  asked  if  it 
seemed  "desirable  that  Great  Britain  should  take  the  initiative 
in  convoking  a  conference  in  London  of  the  representatives  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany  and  Italy,  to  examine  the 
possibilities  of  a  way  out  of  the  present  situation,"  the  Russian 
Foreign  Minister  replied,  that  he  had  "begun  conversations 
with  the  Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador  under  conditions 
which"  he  "hopes  may  be  favorable."  "If  direct  explanations 
with  the  Vienna  Cabinet  were  to  prove  impossible"  he  was 
"ready  to  accept  the  British  proposal." 

The  German  Foreign  Secretary  thought  that  such  a  confer- 
ence "would  practically  amount  to  a  court  of  arbitration" 
which  could  not  be  called  save  "at  the  request  of  Austria  and 
Russia."  Nevertheless  Germany  accepted  "in  principle  media- 
tion between  Austria  and  Russia  by  the  four  Powers,  reserv- 
'  British  White  Paper,  No.  11.  ' 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  7 

ing,  of  course,  their  right  as  an  Ally  to  help  Austria  if  at- 
tacked." The  Imperial  Chancellor  declined  to  accept  the  pro- 
posal. It  would  have  the  appearance  of  an  "Areopagus"  con- 
sisting of  two  Powers  of  each  group  sitting  in  judgment  on  the 
other  two. 

Such  being  the  state  of  affairs  on  July  28,  Sir  Edward  Grey 
telegraphed  the  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin  that  the  German 
Government  having  accepted  the  principle  of  mediation  be- 
tween Austria  and  Russia  by  the  four  Powers,  he  was  ready  to 
propose  that  the  Gjerinan  Government  suggest  the  lines  on  which 
this  principle  should  be  applied.  But  he  would  keep  the  idea 
in  reserve  until  the  results  of  the  "conversations  between  Aus- 
tria and  Russia  were  known."  8 

He  did  not  wait  long.  That  same  day,  July  28,  Austria 
declared  war  on  Serbia  and  the  Russian  Ambassador  at  London 
received  this  telegram  from  St.  Petersburg:9  "Austrian  dec- 
laration of  war  clearly  puts  an  end  to  the  idea  of  direct  com- 
munication between  Austria  and  Russia.  Action  by  London 
Cabinet  in  order  to  set  on  foot  mediation  with  a  view  to  sus- 
pension of  military  operations  of  Austria  against  Serbia  is  now 
most  urgent." 

On  the  following  day  Russia  began  partial  mobilization 
against  Austria  and  Sir  Edward  Grey  "urged  that  the  German 
Government  should  suggest  any  method  by  which  the  influence 
of  the  four  Powers  could  be  used  together  to  prevent  war  be- 
tween Austria  and  Russia."  "Mediation,"  he  said,  "was  ready 
to  come  into  operation  by  any  method  if  Germany  would  'press 
the  button'  in  the  interests  of  peace."  10 

At  Berlin  oh  that  day  the  Chancellor,  well  aware  that  Aus- 
tria was  bent  on  war,  and  that  Germany  would  aid  her,  sent 
for  the  British  Ambassador  and  made  a  strong  bid  for  British 
neutrality.  Should  Austria,  he  said,  be  attacked  by  Russia  "a 
European  conflagration,"  he  feared,  "might  become  inevitable 
owing  to  Germany's  obligations  as  Austria's  ally."  He  did  not 
expect  that  Great  Britain  would  "stand  by  and  allow  France 
to  be  crushed  in  any  conflict  that  might  be,"  and  made  a  bid  for 

•British  Blue  Book,  No.  68. 

•Ibid,  No.  70. 

»  British,  Blue  Book,  No.  84. 


British  neutrality.  Should  she  give  assurance  of  neutrality, 
Germany  would  give  her  assurance  that  she  "aimed  at  no  ter- 
ritorial acquisitions  at  the  expense  of  France"  should  Germany 
"prove  victorious  in  any  war  that  might  ensue."  But  he  would 
give  no  pledge  as  to  the  French  Colonies. 

Sir  Edward  replied  that  he  could  not  "for  a  moment  enter- 
tain the  Chancellor's  proposal";  what  "he  asks  us  in  effect  is 
to  engage  to  stand  by  while  French  colonies  are  taken  and 
France  is  beaten  so  long  as  Germany  does  not  take  French  ter- 
ritory as  distinct  from  the  colonies." 

As  for  Belgium,  the  Chancellor  had  told  the  British  Am- 
bassador that  "it  depended  on  the  action  of  France  what  opera- 
tions Germany  might  be  forced  to  enter  upon  in  Belgium,  but 
when  the  war  was  over,  Belgian  territory  would  be  respected  if 
she  had  not  sided  against  Germany." 

To  this  Sir  Edward  replied :  "The  Chancellor  also  in  effect 
asks  us  to  bargain  away  whatever  obligation  or  interest  we 
have  as  regards  the  neutrality  of  Belgium.  We  could  not  enter- 
tain that  bargain  either." 

July  30,  Russia  agreed  "to  stop  all  military  preparations" 
if  Austria,  recognizing  that  her  war  with  Serbia  had  become 
one  of  European  interest,  would  "eliminate  from  her  ultimatum 
points  which  violate  the  principle  of  sovereignty  of  Serbia,"  and 
the  German  Ambassador  informed  Sir  Edward  Grey  that  the 
Imperial  Government  would  endeavor  to  persuade  Austria, 
after  taking  Belgrade  and  the  Serbian  territory  near  the  fron- 
tier, to  promise  not  to  advance  further  while  the  Powers  at- 
tempted to  arrange  that  Serbia  give  satisfaction  to  Austria. 

But  the  next  day,  July  31,  Russia  began  to  mobilize  her 
entire  fleet  and  army;  Germany  demanded  that  within  twelve 
hours  she  demobilize  along  both  the  German  and  Austrian  fron- 
tiers, declared  "Kriegefahrzustand,"  the  state  of  danger  of  war, 
and  asked  both  France  and  Great  Britain  what  attitude  thev 
intended  to  assume.  France  asked  if  Great  Britain  would  help 
her  if  attacked  by  Germany.  Sir  Edward  Grey  inquired  of 
both  France  and  Germany  if  each  would  respect  the  neutrality 
of  Belgium  if  violated  by  the  other.  France  replied  that  she 
would  "respect  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  and  it  would  be  only 
in  the  event  of  some  other  Power  violating  that  neutrality  that 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  9 

France  might  find  herself  under  the  necessity,  in  order  to  assure 
defense  of  her  own  security,  to  act  otherwise."  The  German 
Secretary  of  State  replied  that  he  must  consult  the  Emperor 
and  the  Chancellor  before  he  could  answer,  and  was  very  doubt- 
ful whether  they  would  return  any  answer  at  all,  lest  "a  certain 
amount  of  their  plan  of  campaign  in  the  event  of  war"  be  dis- 
closed. This  to  Sir  Edward  Grey  was  "a  matter  of  great  regret 
because  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  affected  feeling  in"  England. 
Jf  Germany,  he  told  her  Ambassador,  "could  see  her  way  to 
give  the  same  assurance  as  France,"  it  would  greatly  relieve 
the  tension.  The  Ambassador  thereupon  asked  if  Germany 
gave  a  pledge  not  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  would 
England  remain  neutral?  Sir  Edward  could  not  say  that,  but 
he  could  say  that  her  attitude  would  be  largely  determined  by 
public  opinion,  and  that  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  would 
appeal  strongly  to  public  opinion  in  England. 

The  end  had  come.  Diplomatic  play  for  time  had  ended. 
Never  for  a  moment  had  Germany  intended  to  keep  the 
peace.  Since  July  25  her  troops  had  been  moving  to  the 
French  frontier  where  barbed  wire  entanglements  were  made 
stronger,  trees  cut  down,  railway  stations  occupied,  and  where 
in  a  few  days  eight  army  corps  were  on  a  war  footing.  Be- 
cause of  this,  France,  on  August  1,  ordered  general  mobiliza- 
tion. Germany  that  day  declared  war  on  Russia,  ordered  gen- 
eral mobilization  to  begin  on  August  2,  and  on  that  day  sent 
her  troops  over  the  border  into  the  Duchy  of  Luxemburg,  in 
wanton  disregard  of  its  neutrality,  and  presented  an  ultimatum 
to  Belgium.  There  was  no  doubt,  the  note  said,  "as  to  the 
intention  of  France  to  march  through  Belgian  territory  to  at- 
tack Germany" ;  it  was  "essential  for  the  self-defense  of  Ger- 
many that  she  should  anticipate  any  such  hostile  attack," 
and  cross  Belgian  soil ;  that  if  Belgium  maintained  "an  attitude 
of  friendly  neutrality"  and  made  no  resistance,  Germany  would, 
when  peace  was  made,  "evacuate  Belgian  territory,"  and  "guar- 
antee the  possessions  and  independence  of  the  Belgian  kingdom 
in  full."  Should  Belgium  "oppose  the  German  troops,"  Ger- 
many would,  "to  her  regret,  be  forced  to  consider  Belgium  her 
enemy,"  and  the  "eventual  adjustment  of  the  relations  between 
the  two  states  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of  arms." 


10      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

The  note  was  presented  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of 
August  2,  and  the  reply  must  be  made  before  seven  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  third.  It  was  made  at  that  hour  and  in 
it  are  these  words:  "The  Belgian  Government,  if  they  were  to 
accept  the  proposals  submitted  to  them,  would  sacrifice  the 
honor  of  the  nation  and  betray  their  duty  towards  Europe." 

At  six  forty-five  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  third,  the 
German  Ambassador  at  Paris  handed  M.  Viviani  a  note  charg- 
ing France  with  certain  "flagrantly  hostile  acts  committed  on 
German  territory  by  French  military  aviators,"  and  stating  that 
because  of  these  "the  German  Empire  considers  itself  in  a  state 
of  war  with  France." 

Belgium  meantime  applied  to  Great  Britain  for  diplomatic 
intervention  in  her  behalf  as  one  of  the  guarantors  of  her  neu- 
trality. Great  Britain,  thereupon,  early  in  the  forenoon  of 
August  4,  bade  her  Ambassador,  "protest  against  this  violation 
of  a  treaty  to  which  Germany  is  a  party  in  common  with  our- 
selves," and  "request  an  assurance  that  the  demand  made  upon 
Belgium  will  not  be  proceeded  with  and  that  her  neutrality  will 
be  respected  by  Germany."  Hearing,  as  the  day  wore  on,  that 
British  ships  had  been  seized  "at  Hamburg,  Cuxhaven  and 
other  German  ports,"  and  "that  German  troops  had  entered  Bel- 
gian territory,  and  that  Liege  has  been  summoned  to  surren- 
der," Sir  Edward  Grey  bade  the  British  Ambassador  request 
that  an  answer  to  the  note  of  the  morning  be  received  in  Lon- 
don before  twelve  o'clock  "to-night."  If  it  were  not  he  was  to 
ask  for  his  passports  and  say:  "that  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment feel  bound  to  take  all  steps  in  their  power  to  uphold  the 
neutrality  of  Belgium  and  the  observance  of  a  treaty  to  which 
Germany  is  as  much  a  party  as  ourselves." 

The  German  Ambassador  at  London  was  now  instructed  to 
say  that  under  no  pretext  whatever  would  Germany  annex  Bel- 
gian territory;  that  she  had  been  forced  to  disregard  Belgian 
neutrality  because  she  had  unimpeachable  information  that 
France  would  attack  across  Belgium,  and  because  it  was  a  mat- 
ter of  life  and  death  to  prevent  such  attack. 

When  the  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin  on  the  morning  of 
the  fourth  called  on  the  German  Secretary  of  State,  Herr  von 
Jagow,  to  ask  if  Belgian  neutrality  would  be  respected,  the  an- 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  11 

swer  he  received  was  "No,"  for  it  had  already  been  violated. 
When  he  went  about  seven  in  the  evening  to  state  that  unless, 
by  midnight,  assurances  were  given  that  Germany  would  pro- 
ceed no  further  with  her  violation  of  Belgium,  he  must  demand 
his  passports,  von  Jagow  replied  that  he  could  give  no  other 
answer  than  he  had  given  in  the  morning.  The  Ambassador 
then  called  on  the  Chancellor  and  found  him  "very  agitated." 
He  said  "that  the  step  taken  by  His  Majesty's  Government  was 
terrible  to  a  degree ;  just  for  a  word,  neutrality,  a  word  which 
in  war  time  had  so  often  been  disregarded,  just  for  a  scrap  of 
paper,  Great  Britain  was  going  to  make  war  on  a  kindred  nation 
who  desired  nothing  better  than  to  be  friends  with  her." 

About  half  after  nine  in  the  evening  Herr  Zimmermann, 
Under  Secretary  of  State,  called  at  the  British  Embassy  to  ex- 
press regret  to  the  Ambassador  that  their  friendly  personal  re- 
lations were  about  to  cease  and  asked  "casually  whether  a  de- 
mand for  passports  was  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  war." 
The  Ambassador  replied  in  substance  that  his  Government 
"expected "an  answer  to  a  definite  question  by  twelve  o'clock 
that  night  and  that  in  default  of  a  satisfactory  answer  they 
would  be  forced  to  take  such  steps  as  their  engagements  re- 
quired." Herr  Zimmermann  said  this  was  in  fact  a  declaration 
of  war,  "as  the  Imperial  Government  could  not  possibly  give  the 
assurance  required  either  that  night  or  any  other  night." 

Meantime  the  Berliner  Tageblatt  issued  a  flying  sheet  an- 
nouncing that  Great  Britain  had  declared  war,  a  mob  soon 
gathered  before  the  Embassy  and  the  windows  were  stoned. 
At  eleven  o'clock  on  August  5  the  Ambassador  received  his  pass- 
ports. 

Great  Britain,  France  and  Russia  were  now  at  war  with 
Germany,  and  on  September  4,  1914,  at  London,  Paul  Cam- 
bon,  Count  Benckendorff  and  Sir  Edward  Grey,  representing 
the  Triple  Entente,  signed  a  declaration  that  the  British, 
French  and  Russian  Governments  bound  themselves  not  to 
make  peace  separately  during  the  war,  and  that,  when  the  time 
came  to  discuss  peace,  no  one  of  them  would  demand  terms 
without  the  previous  agreement  of  each  of  the  others. 

Of  these  stirring  events  Americans  at  home  and  abroad 
were  no  idle  spectators.  They,  too,  in  many  ways  were  seri- 


12      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ously  affected.  By  Monday,  the  twenty-seventh,  it  was  known 
that  the  Serbian  Minister  had  received  his  passports ;  that  par- 
tial mobilization  had  been  ordered  by  Austria ;  that  Eussia  had 
mobilized  on  the  Austrian  frontier,  but  that  hopes  were  enter- 
tained that  the  war  might  be  localized.  Exchange  on  London, 
which  on  Saturday  had  been  4.88,  on  Monday  afternoon  stood 
at  4.91 ;  gold  shipments  were  rushed,  and  the  Cable  Company 
announced  that  messages  to  or  through  Austria  must  be  in  plain 
English,  French,  German  or  Italian,  those  for  Hungary  in 
Hungarian,  and  that  commercial  marks,  abbreviations,  military 
news  would  not  be  admitted  in  private  dispatches.  German  and 
Austrian  reservists  now  rushed  to  the  consulates,  to  which  they 
had  been  formally  called  by  the  consuls.  When  news  came  of 
the  Austrian  declaration  of  war  on  Serbia,  foreign  securities 
fell  from  five  to  twenty  points,  the  stock  exchanges  at  Montreal 
and  Toronto  closed,  stocks  fell  three  points  on  the  New  York 
Exchange,  wheat  rose  nine  cents  a  bushel,  corn  five  cents  and 
cotton  declined  nearly  two  dollars  a  bale.  The  Austrian  con- 
suls now  announced  that  the  Emperor  had  granted  amnesty  to 
deserters  and  to  those  who  by  absence  had  avoided  military 
service  provided  they  would  return  to  the  colors. 

On  the  thirtieth,  when  it  was  known  that  Germany  had  sent 
an  ultimatum  to  Russia,  stocks  in  New  York  fell  from  six  to 
seventeen  points,  over  1,300,000  shares  were  thrown  on  the 
market,  and  charterers  began  to  fear  that  a  general  war  would 
prevent  vessels  leaving  port.  Their  fears  were  well  founded 
for,  on  the  thirty-first,  the  President  Grant  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  line,  which  sailed  on  the  thirtieth,  was  recalled  by 
wireless,  the  Amerika  was  held  at  Boston,  the  Vaterland  at 
New  York  and  the  Imperator  at  Hamburg,  and  the  North-Ger- 
man Lloyd  announced  that  none  of  their  vessels  would  leave 
New  York  on  Saturday,  August  1.  That  day  the  stock  ex- 
changes over  all  our  country,  indeed  the  world  over,  closed. 
Only  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  and  the  New  York  Produce 
Exchange,  both  dealing  in  food  products,  remained  open.  At 
Washington  it  was  announced  that  steps  to  organize  the  Federal 
Reserve  Board  would  be  taken  at  once,  that  $500,000,000  emer- 
gency currency  would  be  made  available  at  National  Banks,  and 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  1$ 

an  amendment  to  the  Aldrich-Vreeland  currency  act  was  rushed 
through  the  Senate  under  a  supervision  of  the  rules. 

Commerce  with  Europe  now  almost  ceased.  The  Cunard 
Line  steamships  Lusitania  and  Franconia  were  held  at  New 
York,  Belgian  and  Italian  liners  did  not  leave  port,  the  Mauri- 
tania, which  left  England  August  1  and  knew  nothing  of  the 
war,  was  warned  when  off  Sable  Island  and  put  into  Halifax, 
and  the  Crown  Princess  Cecilie  with  several  million  dollars  in 
gold  on  board,  bound  for  Hamburg,  was  recalled  by  wireless  and 
took  refuge  at  Bar  Harbor.  Everything  imported,  dye  stuffs, 
chemicals,  medicines,  gloves  from  Germany,  glassware,  earthen- 
ware, malt  liquors  from  Austria,  mackerel  from  Norway,  cheese 
from  Holland,  macaroni  from  Italy,  rose  in  price,  and  what  was 
quite  as  bad  food  produced  at  home  began  to  do  the  same  with- 
out any  just  cause  whatever.  Flour  rose  a  dollar  a  barrel ;  meat 
from  two  to  eight  cents  a  pound ;  sugar  two  cents  a  pound ;  and 
the  prices  of  butter,  eggs  and  vegetables  went  higher  and  higher 
daily.  In  New  York  the  Mayor  appointed  a  Citizens'  Com- 
mittee to  investigate,  ordered  the  police  to  help  in  compiling 
tables  showing  the  cost  of  food  at  that  time  and  in  August, 
1913 ;  and  appealed  to  housewives  to  send  to  the  District  Attor- 
ney lists  of  prices  they  paid  in  market. 

The  President  asked  the  Attorney  General  to  report  if  crim- 
inal prosecutions  were  possible.  The  rapid  and  unwarranted 
increase  in  the  prices  of  foodstuffs  in  this  country,  under  the 
pretext  of  conditions  in  Europe,  he  said,  was  so  serious  and  vital 
a  matter  that  he  took  the  liberty  of  calling  the  attention  of  the 
Attorney  General  to  it.  He  would  be  glad  to  know  if  under 
existing  law  the  Department  of  Justice  could  take  action.  The 
Attorney  General  answered  that  "the  head  of  our  special 
agents"  the  country  over,  and  the  District  Attorneys  had  been 
instructed  to  investigate  and  collect  facts.  They  reported  that 
over  all  the  country  there  had  been  an  unjustifiable  rise  in  the 
prices  of  food,  but  found  nothing  on  which  to  base  a  prose- 
cution. The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Retail  Grocers'  Asso- 
ciation in  Philadelphia  urged  that  all  Boards  of  Trade  where 
options  for  speculative  purposes  were  bought  and  sold  be  closed, 
and  requested  the  President  to  stop  export  of  foods  to  warring 
countries. 


14       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Remedies  of  all  sorts  were  suggested,  amend  the  Constitu- 
tion and  give  Congress  power  to  lay  an  export  tax;  give  the 
President  power  to  stop  the  export  of  foodstuffs  and  clothing 
when  such  exportation  would  increase  cost  at  home;  form  non- 
meat-eating  clubs.  Some  blamed  the  meat  packers ;  they  blamed 
the  farmers  who,  they  said,  acting  on  the  advice  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  not  to  ship  wheat  because  of  the  shortage  of 
ships,  were  also  holding  back  cattle. 

Abroad,  our  countrymen,  both  in  and  out  of  the  war  zone, 
were,  many  of  them,  in  great  distress.  Those  who  had  return 
tickets  on  the  German  lines,  found  them  worthless.  Letters  of 
credit,  and  travelers'  checks  in  Germany,  France,  Belgium, 
Switzerland,  and  for  the  time  being  in  London,  were  reduced  to 
waste  paper.  Money  was  not  to  be  had.  Mobilization  made 
escape  from  these  countries  almost  impossible.  In  Switzerland, 
train  service  on  all  four  borders  was  suspended.  In  Paris  a 
panic  prevailed.  The  possible  closing  of  many  of  the  hotels 
because  of  the  calling  of  the  servants  to  the  colors,  the  inability 
to  get  money,  the  fear  that  the  great  liners  would  be  comman- 
deered caused  a  flight  from  the  city  to  London.  Dense  crowds 
stood  for  hours  in  the  railway  station  and  when  the  trains  were 
ready,  hundreds  were  unable  to  get  aboard.  Aliens  were  re- 
quired to  register  and  many  an  American  stood  all  day  long  in 
a  line  waiting  his  turn.  To  aid  those  absolutely  without  means 
committees  were  formed  and  met  at  the  American  Embassy. 
In  Germany  no  aliens  could  leave  until  after  mobilization,  and 
no  money  could  be  obtained  on  letters  of  credit,  bankers',  travel- 
ers' or  express  company  checks.  Hundreds,  however,  made 
their  way  before  mobilization  began,  to  Holland.  After  mobili- 
zation none  could  leave  without  passports  which  must  be  taken 
to  the  proper  German  authorities  and  stamped.  One  American 
who  took  his  to  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin  did  not  receive  it 
back.  Some  months  later  it  was  found  on  the  person  of  a 
German  spy  named  Lody  who  was  shot  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don. Towards  the  middle  of  August,  the  Dresdener  Bank  and 
its  branches  agreed  to  cash  letters  of  credit  and  checks  of  the 
American  Express  Company,  the  Bankers  Association,  Bank- 
ers Trust  Company,  and  International  Mercantile  Marine  in 
small  sums,  provided  all  checks  and  letters  of  credit  were 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  15 

stamped  by  American  consuls  as  evidence  that  the  owners  were 
really  American.  Special  trains  for  Americans  were  finally 
arranged  for  and  the  movement  from  Carlsbad,  Munich  and 
Berlin  into  Holland  began. 

The  destination  of  all  refugees  from  the  Continent  was  Lon- 
don, for  very  few  found  accommodation  on  the  Dutch  and 
French  liners.  At  London  again  tens  of  thousands  were 
stranded.  Ship  after  ship  was  commandeered.  Those  who  lost 
passages  on  the  German  lines  could  find  none  on  the  English 
and  American,  save  in  the  steerage  which  was  all  too  small  to 
satisfy  the  demand.  Monday  the  second  of  August  was  Bank 
Holiday;  but  that  afternoon  a  moratorium  was  declared  cover- 
ing Tuesday,  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  and  during  these  days 
all  banks  and  banking  houses  were  closed.  The  American  Ex- 
press Company,  however,  came  nobly  to  the  relief  of  its  patrons 
and  while  the  moratorium  was  on,  cashed  checks  in  small 
amounts,  and  the  Great  Eastern  Railway,  having  for  years  had 
the  patronage  of  Americans  to  and  from  the  Continent,  an- 
nounced that  it  would  cash  express  and  travelers'  checks  to  the 
amount  of  ten  pounds  per  person. 

Meantime  such  Americans  as  reached  London  in  the  open- 
ing days  of  August,  met  and  organized  at  the  Waldorf  Hotel 
but  soon  removed  to  quarters  in  the  Savoy.  There  a  registra- 
tion bureau  was  opened  and  in  time  some  90,000  Americans 
were  registered.  Committees  were  appointed  to  care  for  those 
without  funds,  to  find  respectable  quarters  for  women  of  limited 
means  traveling  alone,  to  aid  in  securing  the  passage  on  such 
steamships  as  were  sailing,  to  do  anything  necessary  to  get 
them  home.  The  great  difficulty  was  to  secure  transportation. 
Almost  every  day  some  liner  was  taken  over  by  the  Government 
and  hundreds  deprived  of  passage.  More  than  once  travelers 
stood  on  the  landing  stage  at  Liverpool  awaiting  their  ship  when 
announcement  was  made  that  the  Government  had  taken  it.  On 
such  vessels  as  sailed  no  steerage  passengers  were  taken,  but 
the  steerage  quarters  were  cleaned  and  fitted  with  first  class 
bedding,  the  steerage  dining  room  turned  into  bedrooms  and 
the  berths  sold  at  the  minimum  first  class  cabin  rates.  All 
passengers  became  first  class  and  had  the  run  of  the  ship. 

Meantime  efforts  were  made  at  home  to  aid  stranded  tour- 


ists  by  sending  gold  and  providing  means  of  transportation. 
On  July  31  Counselor  Lansing  of  the  Department  of  State 
announced  that,  if  necessary,  the  Government  would  charter 
enough  ships  to  bring  home  every  American  citizen  in  Europe, 
and  if  occasion  required  Congress  would  be  asked  for  money  to 
relieve  those  stranded  in  Europe.  Authority  was  given  to  dip- 
lomatic officers  to  exchange  embassy  checks  for  letters  of  credit, 
or  travelers'  checks,  which  it  was  expected  would  be  received  by 
railroads,  steamship  companies  and  hotels  abroad.  Friends  and 
relatives  of  those  in  need  it  was  announced  might  deposit  funds 
with  the  Department  of  State  and  a  like  amount  would  then 
be  paid  in  Embassy  checks.  Americans  without  funds  would 
be  loaned  money.  To  meet  these  requirements  the  President 
appealed  to  Congress  for  an  immediate  appropriation.  Dis- 
turbances in  Europe,  he  said,  the  interruption  of  transporta- 
tion, the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
money  from  home,  had  placed  a  large  number  of  Americans, 
temporarily  in  Europe,  in  a  serious  situation  and  made  it  neces- 
sary for  the  United  States  to  provide  transportation  and  relief. 
He,  therefore,  asked  for  $250,000  to  be  placed  at  his  disposal 
for  the  relief,  protection  and  transportation  of  American  citi- 
zens, for  personal  services  and  other  expenses  caused  by  the 
troubles  in  Europe. 

Fuller  information  as  to  the  conditions  of  our  countrymen 
made  it  quite  clear  that  such  a  sum  was  much  too  small  and 
August  4  the  President  asked  for  an  additional  sum  of 
$2,500,000.  It  was  promptly  appropriated  and,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  said,  would  be  disbursed,  by  agents  of  the 
Government,  to  Americans  actually  without  funds  or  the  means 
of  getting  them.  The  cruiser  Tennessee  was  to  carry  the  gold, 
and  from  five  to  ten  millions  more  sent  by  New  York  bankers 
for  the  relief  of  those  who  had  letters  of  credit  or  travelers' 
checks.  By  an  Executive  Order  the  duty  of  arranging  for  the 
distribution  of  the  $2,500,000  was  assigned  to  a  board  of  relief 
consisting  of  the  Secretaries  of  State,  Treasury,  War  and  the 
Navy,  and  on  August  6  the  Tennessee  sailed  from  New  York. 
She  also  carried  money  sent  by  bankers,  and  deposited  at  the 
Department  of  State  by  friends  of  those  in  distress  in  Europe. 

Anxiety  as  to  procuring  funds  now  gave  place  to  anxiety 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  17 

as  to  obtaining  transportation.  It  was  generally  expected  that 
the  Government  would  send  battleships  and  transports.  The 
battleships  were  unfit  for  such  a  purpose  and  the  transports 
were  widely  scattered  and  time  would  be  required  to  fit  them 
for  such  a  use.  Coastwise  steamships  might  be  chartered,  but 
it  was  necessary  to  know  if  they  were  really  needed.  A  little 
patience  showed  that  they  were  not,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks  all  were  brought  home  by  the  transatlantic  lines,  save  a 
few  who  came  in  privately  chartered  vessels  and  paid  exorbitant 
rates  for  passage. 

By  the  close  of  August  reports  from  officials  abroad  showed 
that  means  of  transportation  were  rapidly  being  found.  Am- 
bassador Herrick  announced  that  arrangements  had  been  made 
to  move  2500  Americans  from  Switzerland  to  Paris.  The  As- 
sistant Secretary  of  War  who  sailed  on  the  Tennessee  reported 
from  Berlin  that  there  were  8000  Americans  in  that  city,  2500 
in  Munich,  900  in  Mannheim,  750  in  Hamburg,  500  in  Dres- 
den, 200  in  Nuremberg  and  less  than  a  hundred  in  fifteen  other 
cities ;  that  trains  would  be  sent  daily  to  Holland  and  Switzer- 
land, and  that  plenty  of  sailings  would  be  made  from  England 
and  Italy. 

While  Americans  abroad  were  striving  to  come  home,  thou- 
sands of  aliens  in  the  United  States  were  just  as  eager  to  go 
abroad.  As  nation  after  nation  was  drawn  into  the  war,  their 
consuls  made  haste  to  call  to  the  colors  reservists  of  their 
armies  and  navies.  All  day  long  on  August  3  the  consulates 
of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  France  and  even  Switzerland 
were  thronged  with  men  who  came  to  register.  Hundreds  of 
others  far  removed  from  any  consulate,  responded  by  letter  or 
telegram.  The  consul  of  the  Netherlands  when  summoning  all 
men  members  of  the  army  and  navy  to  return  announced  that 
deserters  would  be  pardoned  if  they  returned  to  their  native 
country.  Objection  was  made  by  charity  workers  to  the  return 
of  married  men  with  families  lest  their  wives  and  children 
become  a  charge  on  the  community.  To  this  it  was  answered 
that  so  far  as  the  families  of  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  re- 
servists were  concerned  they  would  be  cared  for  by  the  patriotic 
and  beneficial  societies  of  their  countrymen  resident  in  Amer- 
ica, 


In  response  to  the  call  French,  Germans,  Austro-Hungarians 
came  to  the  consulate  to  enroll.  Men  who  could  not  leave 
their  work  sent  their  wives  or  mothers.  All  day  long  hundreds 
stood  in  line  before  the  consulates.  At  New  York  41,000  were 
said  to  have  enrolled  in  person  or  by  letter.  A  large  number 
of  them  from  distant  places  were  out  of  funds.  Unable  to 
go  home,  unable  to  go  abroad,  they  were  in  great  distress. 
British  naval  reserves  found  an  outlet  through  Canada.  French 
reservists  were  taken  by  the  French  transatlantic  lines.  But 
for  Germans,  Austrians  and  Russians,  there  was  no  means  of 
transportation. 

Nevertheless  the  question  of  what  would  become  of  their 
families  if  they  did  go  was  taken  up  by  the  charity  workers  in 
Philadelphia  and  New  York.  In  Philadelphia  the  Director 
of  Health  and  Charities  invited  the  large  employers  of  foreign 
labor  to  meet  him  in  conference.  He  had  heard  that  the  con- 
suls of  countries  at  war  were  practically  acting  as  recruiting 
agents  and  promising  the  men  transportation  and  the  care  of 
their  families  by  their  respective  governments.  He  did  not 
think  it  right  that  heads  of  families  should  go  leaving  their 
wives  and  children  to  become  dependent  on  charity  organiza- 
tions. 

The  President  now  issued  his  proclamation  of  neutrality. 

After  some  general  statements  the  President  summed  up 
briefly  the  laws  and  principles  of  international  law  which  per- 
sons living  in  our  country  were  bound  to  obey  in  order  to  pre- 
serve neutrality.  They  were  charged  not  to  accept  a  commis- 
sion to  serve,  one  belligerent,  on  land  or  sea,  against  the  other 
belligerent ;  they  were  not  to  enlist  or  enter  the  service  of  either 
belligerent  nor  hire  or  retain  any  person  to  enlist,  or  go  beyond 
the- limits  of  the  United  States  to  enlist  or  enter  the  service  of 
either  belligerent  as  a  soldier,  marine,  or  seaman  on  any  armed 
vessel.  They  were  not  to  fit  out  or  arm,  nor  procure  to  be 
fitted  out  and  armed,  nor  knowingly  be  concerned  in  the  fitting 
out  and  arming  of  any  ship  or  vessel  to  be  used  in  the  service 
of  either  belligerent.  They  were  not  to  increase,  nor  procure 
to  be  increased,  nor  be  knowingly  concerned  in  increasing  or 
augmenting  the  force  of  any  ship  of  war,  cruiser,  or  armed 
vessel  belonging  to  either  belligerent  or  to  the  subjects  of  either 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  19 

of  them,  by  adding  to  the  number  of  guns,  or  changing  those  on 
board  for  others  of  larger  caliber,  or  by  adding  any  equipment 
solely  for  use  in  war.  They  were  not  to  begin,  or  set  afoot,  or 
provide  or  prepare  the  means  for  any  military  expedition  to  be 
carried  on  from  the  territory  of  the  United  States  against  the 
territories  or  dominions  of  either  of  the  belligerents. 

The  neutrality  statutes  thus  summarized  in  the  proclama- 
tion are  historic  and  the  result  of  our  long  experience  as  a 
neutral  power. 

"These  are,  in  concise  form,"  says  Mr.  James  Brown  Scott,11 
"the  neutrality  statutes  of  the  United  States,  which  had  been 
found  necessary  in  Washington's  Administration  and  in  that  of 
his  immediate  successor  to  preserve  the  neutral  rights  of  the 
United  States  against  violation  by  belligerents,  and  to  secure 
the  observance  of  the  neutral  duties  of  the  United  States  in 
behalf  of  belligerents.  Reissued  with  slight  modifications  in 
1818  and  incorporated  in  the  Statutes  at  Large  in  1874,  they 
reappear  in  the  so-called  Penal  Code  of  the  United  States  in 
1909  with  but  trifling  changes  of  phraseology."  Our  coun- 
try "was  the  first  country  to  feel  the  need  of  a  code  of  municipal 
law  dealing  with  the  question  of  neutrality,  and  it  was  the  first 
to  draft  such  a  code.  By  its  conduct  as  a  neutral"  when  Wash- 
ington was  President,  "it  laid  the  basis  of  the  modern  laws  of 
neutrality.  .  .  .  The  neutrality,  therefore,  which  the  United 
States  proclaimed  in  1914  was  not  a  neutrality  born  of  the 
moment." 

Belligerents,  in  their  turn,  were  warned  in  the  proclama- 
tion to  observe  the  rights  of  neutrals.  Should  one  of  their  ves- 
sels of  war  come  within  the  waters  of  the  United  States  to  pre- 
pare for  hostile  operations,  or  watch  the  war  ships  or  mer- 
chantmen of  an  enemy,  it  would  be  "regarded  as  unfriendly  and 
offensive  and  in  violation  of  that  neutrality  which  it  is  the 
determination  of  this  Government  to  observe."  ~No  armed  ves- 
sel of  a  belligerent  could  stay  more  than  twenty-four  hours  in 
any  of  our  ports,  or  use  it  for  warlike  purposes  or  for  obtaining 
warlike  equipment,  or  depart,  if  in  port  when  an  enemy  vessel 
of  any  sort  left,  until  four  and  twenty  hours  after  the  enemy 

U"A  Survey  of  International  Relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Germany,  1914-1917,"  pp.  44,  45. 


ship  had  passed  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 
No  ship  of  war  belonging  to  a  belligerent  could  take  in  any 
supplies  save  food  and  such  other  things  as  were  necessary  for 
the  subsistence  of  the  crew,  and  only  so  much  coal  as  might 
be  sufficient  to  take  the  vessel  to  the  nearest  port  of  her  own 
country.  If  provided  with  both  sail  and  steam  power  then 
but  half  the  quantity  of  coal  necessary  if  propelled  by  steam 
alone  would  be  furnished.  When  once  coaled  in  a  port  of  the 
United  States  a  war  vessel  of  a  belligerent  could  not  again 
obtain  coal  in  one  of  our  ports  until  after  the  expiration  of 
three  months  unless  she  had  meantime  entered  a  port  of  her  own 
country. 

Finally,  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  warned  that 
while  "free  and  full  expression  of  sympathies  in  public  and 
private  is  not  restricted,"  they  could  not  lawfully  originate  a 
military  force  in  aid  of  a  belligerent;  that  while  they  might 
manufacture  and  sell  within  the  United  States  arms  and  mu- 
nitions of  war,  and  other  articles  known  as  contraband  of  war, 
they  could  not  carry  such  articles  upon  the  high  seas  for  the 
use  of  a  belligerent,  nor  transport  soldiers  and  officers  of  a  bel- 
ligerent, nor  attempt  to  break  any  blockade  lawfully  established, 
without  "the  risk  of  hostile  capture  and  the  penalties  denounced 
by  the  law  of  nations  in  that  behalf." 

Special  instructions  from  the  Department  of  Commerce 
warned  Collectors  of  Customs  that  no  vessel  was  to  be  cleared 
if  she  was  to  be  used  as  a  transport  for  reservists  or  recruits 
for  the  army  of  a  belligerent. 

European  commerce  for  the  time  being  was  paralyzed. 
Total  or  partial  suspension  of  ocean  traffic  by  some  lines;  the 
refusal  of  bankers  to  accept  bills  of  lading;  high  premiums  for 
marine  insurance,  in  some  cases  20  per  cent ;  with  German  and 
Austrian  tonnage  driven  from  the  sea ;  with  English  and  French 
tonnage  greatly  reduced  and  no  American  merchant  marine 
worth  mentioning,  the  export  of  our  goods,  wares,  merchandise 
and  foodstuffs  became  almost  impossible.  Sailors,  firemen, 
cooks,  stewards,  longshoremen,  teamsters  were  thrown  out  of 
work.  Mills  and  factories  of  many  sorts  which  manufactured 
for  the  export  trade  were  forced  to  put  their  employees  on  part 
time.  Shipment  of  grain  almost  ceased,  while  the  owners 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR  21 

awaited  guarantees  of  the  safety  of  vessels  from  war  risks.  So 
grave  was  the  situation  becoming  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  called  a  conference  at  Washington  of  shippers  and 
exchange  bankers,  the  one  to  provide  ships  for  carrying  grain 
and  cotton;  the  other  to  restore  the  market  for  foreign  bills  of 
exchange.  The  conference  urged  the  setting  up  a  bureau  of 
war  risk  insurance  which  should  assume  war  risks  on  Amer- 
ican vessels  and  American  cargoes  shipped  therein;  and  ap- 
pointed committees  of  experts  to  give  the  government  advice  on 
transportation,  foreign  exchange  and  war  risk  insurance. 

The  suggestion  was  taken  up  and  made  part  of  the  emer- 
gency measures  before  Congress.  First  among  these  was  the 
Ship  Kegistry  Bill  under  which  foreign-built  ships  owned  by 
an  American  corporation  might  be  admitted  to  American  reg- 
istry and  come  under  the  flag.  But  this  would  be  too  slow  in 
its  working.  Time,  perhaps  much  time,  must  pass  before  any 
considerable  number  of  foreign  vessels  could  be  acquired.  A 
quicker  way  of  procuring  ships  to  carry  the  waiting  crops  to 
Europe  was  needed,  and  was  thought  to  have  been  found  in  a 
plan  to  purchase  ocean-going  vessels  and  operate  them  under 
the  direction  of  a  board  composed  of  the  President,  Secretaries 
of  War  and  Commerce  and  the  Postmaster  General,  and  to 
establish  a  bureau  for  government  insurance  of  American  ships 
and  cargoes  against  the  risks  of  war.  The  fine  ships  of  the 
North-German-Lloyd  and  the  Hamburg-American  lines  could 
be  purchased  and  used  at  once. 

,  No  bill  for  the  purchase  of  ships  passed  Congress  at  that 
time;  but  the  Federal  Bureau  of  War  Risk  Insurance  was 
established  and  $5,000,000  appropriated  to  be  used  to  insure 
American  vessels,  freight  and  cargo,  when  war-risk  insurance 
could  not  be  obtained  elsewhere  on  terms  that  were  reasonable. 

The  sudden  interruption  of  ocean  traffic,  the  closing  of  many 
European  ports  to  shipment  of  goods  to  our  country  cut  down 
the  revenue  from  imports  so  rapidly  and  so  much  that  when 
August  ended  there  was  a  deficit  of  ten  million  dollars.  Aware 
that  this  must  continue  the  President  applied  to  Congress  for  a 
War  Tax. 

During  the  month  of  August,  he  said,  the  revenue  collected 
from  customs  duties  fell  $10,629,538  below  that  for  the  same 


22      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

month  of  1913.  Should  the  rate  of  decrease  go  on  during  the 
remainder  of  the  fiscal  year,  it  would  amount  to  $50,000,000 
or  possibly  $100,000,000.  This  loss  was  due  not  to  the  recent 
reductions  in  duties,  he  held,  hut  to  the  decrease  in  importa- 
tions, caused  by  war  conditions  in  the  industrial  areas  in 
Europe.  Heavy  as  was  the  deficit  it  should  be  met,  and 
promptly,  not  by  borrowing,  not  by  issuing  bonds,  but  by  taxa- 
tion. He  asked  therefore  that  $100,000,000  be  raised  by  inter- 
nal taxes,  and  Congress  in  October  enacted  the  War  Revenue 
Act  to  add  $54,000,000  to  the  revenue.  It  was  to  expire  on  the 
last  day  of  December,  1915. 


CHAPTEK  II 

PRO-GERMAN   PROPAGANDA BELGIAN   RELIEF 

THAT  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  be  indifferent 
to  the  course  of  events  in  Europe  was  impossible.  Their  neutral 
rights,  their  sympathies,  their  prejudices ;  indignation  over  the 
brutal  invasion  of  Belgium;  admiration  for  the  heroism  of  the 
Belgian  people;  hatred  of  England;  good  will  towards  Eng- 
land ;  grateful  remembrance  for  French  support  in  the  War  for 
Independence,  detestation  of  German  militarism,  love  for  the 
Fatherland,  ties  of  blood,  race,  nationality,  a  hundred  motives 
forced  them  to  take  sides. 

As  the  greatest  of  neutrals  the  attitude  that  might  be  taken 
by  the  people  and  Government  of  the  United  States  was  a  mat- 
ter of  much  concern  to  all  the  belligerents  and  to  none  more 
than  to  Germany. 

No  sooner,  therefore,  was  the  war  fairly  under  way  than 
Germans,  German-Americans  and  pro-German  citizens  began 
the  most  remarkable  propaganda  ever  made  by  a  belligerent  and 
its  supporters  to  influence  opinion  in  a  neutral  country.  The 
press,  the  platform,  and  the  mails  were  used  without  stint.  In- 
deed a  special  agent,  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg,  late  Colonial 
Secretary  of  the  German  Empire,  was  sent  to  do  his  part  in  the 
effort  to  convince  Americans  of  the  justice  of  the  German 
cause.  A  Press  Bureau  was  established  at  New  York  from 
which  came  pamphlets  and  leaflets,  and  "The  Fatherland,  a 
weekly  devoted  to  Fair-Play  for  Germany  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary." Professors  in  many  Universities,  men  who  had  lived  in 
Germany,  and  had  studied  at  her  Universities,  while  declaring 
themselves  devoted  Americans,  wrote  and  labored  for  the  Ger- 
man cause.  The  German  language  press  sided  with  the  Father- 
land. The  English  languages  press  though  overwhelmingly  pro- 
ally,  opened  its  columns  to  the  expression  of  opinions  by  both 
sides. 

23 


24       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Who  began  the  war,  was  hotly  debated.  Friends  of  the 
Allies  laid  the  blame  on  Germany  and  denounced  her  for  vio- 
lating the  neutrality  of  Belgium.  Pro-Germans  defended  the 
invasion  of  Belgium,  maintained  that  France  was  the  first  to  do 
so,  charged  Great  Britain  with  responsibility  for  the  war  and 
declared  that  her  defense  of  Belgian  neutrality  was  a  mere 
pretense.  So  warm  did  the  discussion  become  that  August  18 
the  President  appealed  to  his  "fellow  countrymen,"  to  be  neu- 
tral in  speech  as  well  as  in  action.  He  supposed,  he  said,  that 
every  thoughtful  man  in  America  had  asked  himself  what  effect 
the  war  would  have  on  the  United  States.  That  depended  on 
what  American  citizens  said  and  did.  All  who  loved  America 
would  act  and  speak  in  the  true  spirit  of  neutrality,  of  im- 
partiality, fairness  and  friendliness  toward  all  concerned.  But 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  would  largely  depend  on  what  was  said 
at  public  meetings,  in  newspapers  and  magazines,  by  what  was 
uttered  by  ministers  from  the  pulpit  and  by  men  on  the  streets. 
Our  people  were  drawn  from  the  nations  at  war.  It  was  but 
natural  that  there  should  be  the  utmost  variety  of  sympathy 
and  desire  as  to  the  issues  of  the  conflict.  He  ventured  there- 
fore to  speak  a  word  of  warning  against  partisanship,  against 
taking  sides.  The  United  States  must  be  neutral  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name.  The  people  must  be  impartial  in  thought  as  well  as 
in  action.  Our  country  must  show  herself  fit  beyond  others  to 
exhibit  the  fine  poise  of  undisturbed  judgment,  the  dignity  of 
self-control,  neither  sitting  in  judgment  upon  others,  nor  dis- 
turbed in  her  counsels,  free  to  do  what  is  honest,  and  truly  ser- 
viceable for  the  peace  of  the  world. 

The  appeal,  coming  at  the  time  it  did,  was  by  many  looked 
on  as  a  reply  to  one  made  to  the  President  by  the  National 
German-American  Alliance,  through  its  President,  Dr.  J.  C. 
Hexamer,  to  use  his  good  offices  with  Japan.  That  country, 
about  to  enter  the  war,  had  sent  an  ultimatum  to  Germany  de- 
manding the  withdrawal  of  her  armed  ships  from  the  eastern 
seas  and  the  surrender  of  Kiao-Chow.  This  act  was  now  used 
by  pro-Germans  to  frighten  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Having  seized  Kiao-Chow,  the  next  objective  point  of  Japan, 
it  was  said,  will  be  Samoa. 

Now  Samoa,  it  was  pointed  out,  is  but  six  days  sail  from 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     25 

ports  in  Japan  and  almost  in  line  with  Honolulu,  in  which  were 
living  a  hundred  thousand  Japanese,  and  Honolulu  is  but 
five  days  sail  from  San  Francisco.  With  Samoa  in  her  hands 
and  a  hundred  thousand  of  her  subjects  on  the  island  and  an- 
other hundred  thousand  in  Honolulu  Japan  would  be  ready 
for  an  attack  on  any  power  she  pleased.  Why  not  the  United 
States  ?  There  was  more  behind  her  act  than  the  mere  seizure 
of  the  leased  possessions  of  Germany  in  China. 

Hoping  to  involve  the  United  States  in  the  issue  the 
National  German-American  Alliance  appealed  to  President 
Wilson  "to  plead  with  the  Government  of  Japan,"  in  the  name 
"of  humanity,  civilization  and  universal  peace  to  refrain  from 
carrying  the  war  into  the  Far  East  by  demanding  from  Ger- 
many to  abandon  all  her  political  and  commercial  interests  in 
China."  She  should  be  fair  and  submit  any  grievances  against 
Germany  to  the  Hague  Peace  Tribunal.  Dr.  Hexamer  like- 
wise appealed  to  the  press  to  "frown  down  upon  the  act  of 
Japan  in  throwing  herself  into  the  European  conflict."  Japan 
menaced  no  other  nation  as  she  did  the  United  States,  he  said. 
Her  purpose  was  to  acquire  the  Caroline  Islands,  then  possibly 
Samoa  and  finally  Hawaii. 

At  a  meeting  of  Irish-Nationalists  in  Philadelphia  a  speaker 
declared  England  had  ever  been  the  bitter  enemy  of  Ireland, 
and  that  Redmond  had  assumed  too  much,  when  he  pledged 
Ireland  to  fight  Germany,  and  resolutions  friendly  to  Germany 
were  adopted:  "We,  the  Irish-Nationalists  of  Philadelphia," 
said  one,  "recognize  in  this  conflict  that  Germany  is  the  friend 
of  Ireland,  and  that  she  is  attacked  from  behind  by  Ireland's 
old  enemy,  England."  "We  repudiate  the  so-called  leaders  of 
our  race  who  without  warrant  pledged  Irish  courage  to  the 
cause  of  the  assassin  and  the  coward."  "To  Ireland  we  look 
to  hope  for  German  victory  over  the  power  that  has  destroyed 
our  own  country."  "We  pledge  ourselves  to  do  all  in  our  power 
to  aid  a  friendly  people  to  repel  their  enemies  who  are  also 
ours,  and  to  use  every  effort  to  bring  Irishmen  and  Germans 
together  to  fight  for  a  common  cause,  the  national  welfare  of 
Germany  and  the  national  existence  of  Ireland." 

The  ministers  of  German  churches  in  Philadelphia  called 
a  meeting  at  the  Zion  German  Lutheran  Church  and  expressed 


their  pro-German  views.  Resolutions  presented  by  the  min- 
isters "protested  against  the  censorship  by  our  government  of 
German-American  wireless  stations.  Any  so-called  censorship 
of  the  cables  of  England  and  her  allies  is  a  farce,  as  the  dis- 
patches can  readily  be  introduced  into  our  country  through 
Canada." 

Resolutions  adopted  by  those  in  the  pews  set  forth  that: 
"We,  German-Americans/'  protest  "against  the  common 
calumnies  against  the  head  of  a  nation  friendly  to  us,  as  degrad- 
ing the  entire  American  people" ;  brand  as  false  the  statement 
"that  Germany  and  its  Emperor  have  sought  and  forced  this 
war" ;  demand  "no  favor  for  Germany  from  the  English- Amer- 
ican press,"  but  "protest  against  all  articles  which  tend  to  incite 
and  seek  to  create  public  sentiment  against  Germany.  What 
we  ask  is  neutrality  towards  all  warring  nations." 

The  Kaiser,  meanwhile,  on  September  7,  protested  to  the 
President  against  the  conduct  of  the  Allies.  "After  the  cap- 
ture of  the  French  fort  of  Longwy  my  troops  found  in  that 
place  thousands  of  dumdum  bullets  which  had  been  manufac- 
tured in  special  works  by  the  French  Government.  Such  bul- 
lets were  found  not  only  on  French  killed  and  wounded,  but 
also  on  English  troops.  .  .  . 

"I  solemnly  protest  to  you  against  the  way  in  which  this 
war  is  being  waged  by  our  opponents,  whose  methods  are  mak- 
ing it  one  of  the  most  barbarous  in  history.  Besides  the  use 
of  these  awful  weapons,  the  Belgian  Government  openly  in- 
cited the  civil  population  to  participate  in  fighting,  and  has  for 
a  long  time  carefully  organized  their  resistance.  The  cruelties 
practiced  in  this  guerrilla  warfare,  even  by  women  and  priests, 
towards  wounded  soldiers,  and  doctors  and  hospital  nurses 
(physicians  were  killed  and  lazarets  fired  on)  were  such  that 
eventually  my  generals  were  compelled  to  adopt  the  strongest 
measures  to  punish  the  guilty  and  frighten  the  bloodthirsty 
population  from  continuing  their  shameful  deeds. 

"Some  villages  and  even  the  old  town  of  Louvain,  with  the 
exception  of  its  beautiful  town  hall,  had  to  be  destroyed  for 
the  protection  of  my  troops. 

"My  heart  bleeds  when  I  see  such  measures  inevitable  and 
when  I  think  of  the  many  innocent  people  who  have  lost  their 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     27 

houses  and  property  as  a  result  of  the  misdeeds  of  the  guilty." 

No  sooner  did  President  Poincare  hear  of  this  protest  than 
he  too,  addressed  President  Wilson.  He  had  been  informed,  he 
said,  that  the  German  Government  was  attempting  to  abuse  His 
Excellency's  good  faith  by  alleging  that  dumdum  bullets  were 
made  in  French  State  workshops  and  used  by  French  soldiers. 
The  calumny  was  nothing  but  "an  audacious  attempt  to  reverse 
the  roles."  Germany  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  had  used 
dumdum  bullets  and  had  daily  violated  the  law  of  nations. 
On  August  18,  and  on  several  occasions  since,  he  had  reported 
crimes.  Germany,  aware  of  these  protests,  "was  trying  to  de- 
ceive and  make  use  of  pretexts  and  lies  in  order  to  indulge  in 
further  acts  of  barbarity  in  the  name  of  right." 

September  16  President  Wilson  answered  the  protest  from 
the  Kaiser.  He  was  honored  that  the  Emperor  should  have 
turned  to  him  "for  an  impartial  judgment  as  the  representative 
of  a  people  truly  disinterested  as  respects  the  present  war  and 
truly  desirous  of  knowing  and  accepting  the  truth."  The 
Kaiser  he  was  sure  would  not  expect  him  "to  say  more."  "It 
would  be  unwise,  it  would  be  premature,  for  a  single  Govern- 
ment ;  however  fortunately  separated  from  the  present  struggle, 
it  would  even  be  inconsistent  with  the  neutral  position  of  any 
nation,  which  like  this,  has  no  part  in  the  contest,  to  favor  or 
express  a  final  judgment." 

That  same  day  Belgium  made  her  protests.  For  weeks  past 
horrid  stories  of  atrocities  perpetrated  by  the  Germans  on  the 
people  of  Belgium  had  come  pouring  in  from  abroad.  The 
German  armies  had  swept  across  Belgium  and  France  almost 
to  the  gates  of  Paris.  There  they  had  been  checked.  The 
battle  of  the  Marne  had  been  fought  and  the  Germans  driven 
northward  to  the  St.  Quentin,  Noyon,  Laon  line. 

Everywhere  their  path  had  been  marked  by  murder,  rapine, 
brutality  and  crime.  The  details  of  what  was  done  need  not 
be  retold.  The  whole  world  knows  it.  In  every  village,  town 
and  little  city  men,  women  and  children  were  shot  for  no  of- 
fense whatever,  houses  and  shops  were  looted  and  burned, 
churches  were  destroyed,  farmsteads  set  on  fire,  peasants  shot 
in  the  fields,  and  livestock  carried  away. 

At  Louvain  the  Germans,  asserting  they  had  been  fired  on 


28       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

by  civilians,  burned  a  large  part  of  the  city,  some  of  the 
University  buildings  and  the  great  library  and  shot  scores  of 
the  inhabitants  and  carried  hundreds  into  captivity.  At 
Aerschot,  under  the  pretext  that  the  son  of  the  burgomaster,  a 
lad  of  fifteen,  had  killed  a  German  officer,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
citizens  were  shot  and  the  town  pillaged  and  almost  destroyed. 
Fifteen  houses  were  burned  after  the  people  had  fled  from 
Rotselaer.  Vise  and  a  score  of  towns  and  hamlets  met  a  like 
fate. 

As  the  reports  of  these  atrocities  became  known  in  our 
country,  an  outburst  of  astonishment  and  indignation  followed. 
That  the  armies  of  a  people  such  as  the  Germans  were  believed 
to  be  should  wantonly  destroy  historic  monuments,  masterpieces 
of  architecture,  works  of  art  and  take  the  lives  of  noncom- 
batants  was  at  first  almost  unbelievable.  Indeed  they  were 
indignantly  denied  or  defended  by  the  German  language  press 
and  devoted  friends  of  Germany.  They  were,  it  was  said,  of 
English  origin,  they  came  from  Paris,  were  false  and  designed 
to  prejudice  America.  Five  American  newspaper  correspond- 
ents who  followed  the  German  armies  as  they  drove  through 
Belgium  joined  in  a  letter  of  denial  and  sent  it  by  wireless 
from  Brussels  to  Berlin  for  transmission  to  their  newspapers. 
According  to  their  account l  they  had  spent  two  weeks  follow- 
ing the  troops  a  hundred  miles,  and  could  not  report  a  single 
unprovoked  instance.  Stories  of  atrocities  were  groundless  as 
far  as  they  knew.  They  could  not  confirm  one  instance  of  mis- 
treatment of  prisoners  or  noncombatants.  This,  they  said,  was 
true  of  Louvain,  Brussels,  Luneville  and  Nantes.  Many  rumors 
when  investigated  they  had  found  groundless. 

A  very  different  story  came  from  the  Belgians.  No  sooner 
had  the  Germans  entered  Belgium  and  begun  the  work  of  ter- 
rorizing the  people  than  the  Minister  of  Justice  appointed  a 
Commission  of  Inquiry  to  gather  and  examine  all  the  facts 
relating  to  violations  of  the  law  of  nations,  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty and  destruction  of  human  life. 

The  Commission  met  in  Brussels,  but  after  the  removal  of 

1  Mr.  Roger  Lewis  of  the  Associated  Press ;  Mr.  Irvin  S.  Cobb  of  the 
Philadelphia  Ledger;  Mr.  Harry  Hause  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News;  Mr. 
J.  O'Donnell  Bennet  and  Mr.  John  T.  McCutcheon  of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     29 

the  Government  to  Antwerp  on  August  18,  communication 
with  Brussels  ended  and  no  reports  came  from  the  Commis- 
sion. Thereupon  the  Minister  of  Justice  appointed  a  sub- 
commission  to  carry  on  the  work  in  Antwerp,  and  from  it  by 
the  end  of  August  came  a  report  telling  how  Germany  had 
violated  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  how  in  disregard  of  the 
Hague  Rules  of  1907,  her  aeroplanes  and  dirigibles  dropped 
bombs  on  towns  that  were  undefended  and  on  fortified  places 
neither  besieged  nor  invested  as  Malines,  Heyst-op-din-Berg, 
Louvain,  Namur,  Antwerp;  how  the  people  were  massacred 
at  Aerschot,  and  how  buildings  were  burned,  homes  looted  and 
people  killed  in  Liege,  Louvain,  Hersselt. 

This  report  the  King  of  the  Belgians  placed  in  the  hands  of 
a  Special  Envoy  and  sent  him,  attended  by  men  of  distinction, 
to  deliver  it  to  President  Wilson  as  a  protest  against  the  wrongs 
inflicted  on  the  people  of  Belgium.2 

The  Mission  was  received  on  September  16,  an  address 
was  made,  the  document  delivered,  and  a  reply  made  by  the 
President.  In  the  course  of  it  he  said: 

"I  am  honored  that  your  King  should  have  turned  to  me  in  time 
of  distress  as  to  one  who  would  wish  on  behalf  of  the  people  he 
represents  to  consider  the  claims  to  the  impartial  sympathy  of  man- 
kind of  a  nation  which  deems  itself  wronged. 

"I  thank  you  for  the  document  you  have  put  in  my  hands.  .  .  . 
It  shall  have  my  most  attentive  perusal  and  my  most  thoughtful 
consideration. 

"You  will,  I  am  sure,  not  expect  me  to  say  more.  ...  It  would 
be  unwise,  it  would  be  premature,  for  a  single  government,  however 
fortunately  separated  from  the  present  struggle,  it  would  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  neutral  position  of  any  nation  which  like  this  has 
no  part  in  the  contest,  to  form  a  final  judgment." 

Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  officially  informed  the  State  De- 
partment that  the  statement  made  by  the  Belgian  Commission 
did  not  contain  one  word  of  truth.  A  dispatch  from  Berlin  in: 
formed  him  that  because  of  an  attack  from  Antwerp  the  Ger- 
man garrison  went  forth  to  meet  the  enemy,  leaving  one  bat- 
talion in  Louvain ;  that  the  priests  thinking  this  meant  retreat 
gave  arms  to  the  citizens  who  suddenly  began  to  shoot  out  of 
•"The  Case  of  Belgium  in  the  Present  War,  1914." 


SO       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

windows ;  that  a  fight  of  twenty-five  hours  followed ;  that  parts 
of  Louvain  were  burned,  and  civilians  with  arms  were  killed. 
The  German  army,  the  dispatch  said,  "protested  against  the 
news  sent  out  by  enemies  about  the  cruelty  of  German  warfare. 
The  German  troops  had  to  take  severe  measures  sometimes  when 
provoked,  the  population  making  treacherous  attacks  upon  them 
and  bestial  atrocities  against  the  wounded.  .  .  .  The  German 
soldier  is  not  an  incendiary  nor  pillager." 

When  the  Germans  were  driven  from  Rheims  in  Septem- 
ber, and  the  French  came  in,  the  retiring  enemy  turned  their 
guns  upon  the  cathedral.  Against  this  act  of  vandalism  the 
French  Government,  on  September  21,  made  a  formal  pro- 
test to  all  neutral  nations,  and  sent  the  American  architect, 
Mr.  Whitney  Warren,  to  report  on  the  damage  done.  Even 
the  German  Government  at  first  seemed  ashamed,  and  Am- 
bassador von  Bernstorff  entered  an  official  disclaimer  at  Wash- 
ington and  in  its  name  denied  that  German  artillery  had  pur- 
posely destroyed  important  buildings  in  Rheims,  and  that  or- 
ders were  given  to  spare  the  cathedral  by  all  means.  The  report 
of  Mr.  Warren  proved  the  destruction  was  deliberate. 

Despite  the  testimony  collected  by  the  Belgian  Commission 
and  published  in  their  report,  pro-Germans  denied  that  such 
atrocities  had  been  committed  and  declared  that  what  had  been 
done  was  fully  justified.  The  daily  lamentations  here  over  the 
atrocities,  the  barbarities  of  the  Germans  are  dictated  by  Eng- 
lish hypocrisy,  said  the  Staais-Z eitung ,  published  in  New  York. 
Americans  who  to-day  profess  to  be  so  indignant  over  the  bom- 
bardment of  Rheims  have  plainly  forgotten  Sherman's  March 
to  the  Sea.  Atrocities!  Enough  of  the  whining  of  English 
hypocrisy,  because  something  beautiful  has  been  destroyed.  A 
Philadelphia  German  newspaper  asserted  that  the  Belgian  Com- 
mittee was  being  used  by  England  to  raise  a  cry  against  Ger- 
many. It  had  falsely  accused  German  soldiers  and  the  German 
army  of  gross  infractions  of  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare  and 
the  rights  of  civilians.  German  wounded  were  mutilated  by 
Belgian  hyenas  on  the  battlefield.  Civilian  populations  had 
taken  up  arms  and  fired  on  the  Germans  from  behind.  The 
partial  destruction  of  Louvain  was  to  be  attributed  to  an  or- 
ganized attack  on  the  Germans  by  the  civilians.  Dr.  Kraus- 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF      31 

kopf  of  Philadelphia  knew  that  women  and  noncombatants  had 
cut  off  the  ears  and  noses  and  gouged  out  the  eyes  of  wounded 
defenseless  Germans. 

Scarcely  had  the  Belgians  presented  their  case  to  the  Presi- 
dent when  the  case  of  Germany  was  set  forth  in  a  pamphlet 
entitled:  "The  Truth  About  Germany:  Facts  About  the  War." 
It  was  addressed  especially  to  our  countrymen,  had  been  writ- 
ten in  Germany  and  the  correctness  of  its  statements  was 
vouched  for  by  an  Honorary  Committee  of  four  and  thirty  Ger- 
mans of  distinction.  In  the  preface  Dr.  John  W.  Burgess  of 
Columbia  University  vouched  for  them.  Seventeen  he  had 
known  for  years.  With  six  he  had  labored  as  a  colleague  in 
University  work.  "They  are  the  salt  of  the  earth!  .  .  .  No 
statement  was  ever  issued  which  was  vouched  for  by  more  solid, 
intelligent  and  conscientious  people.  Its  correctness,  complete- 
ness and  veracity  cannot  be  doubted."  One  article  took  up  the 
question  who  was  responsible  for  the  war  and  laid  the  blame  on 
England.  Another  reminded  us  of  what  England  had  done  in 
the  Civil  War.  Others  explained  mobilization  and  the  organi- 
zation of  the  German  army  and  navy.  Among  the  statements 
vouched  for  by  the  Honorary  Committee  are  some  as  unbeliev- 
able as  any  that  came  out  of  Belgium.  Americans  were  told 
"that  the  eyes  of  wounded  German  soldiers  in  Belgium  were 
gouged  out,  and  their  ears  and  noses  cut  off ;  that  surgeons  and 
persons  carrying  the  wounded  were  shot  at  from  houses"; 
that  "German  women  were  dragged  naked  through  the  streets 
(of  Antwerp)  and  shot  to  death  before  the  eyes  of  the  police 
and  the  militia"  and  that  "children  were  thrown  from  the  win- 
dows of  German  homes  into  the  streets  and  their  limbs  were 
broken." 

In  the  light  of  what  we  now  know  of  the  activities  of 
German  spies  and  agents  in  our  country  against  France  and 
Great  Britain,  and  finally  against  us  while  still  at  peace  with 
Germany  this  complaint  against  espionage  in  Germany  is  worth 
citing.  "This  espionage,"  said  the  writer,  "was  directed  from 
central  points  in  foreign  countries."  "Kepeatedly  it  appeared 
that  the  foreign  embassies  and  Consulates  in  Germany  assisted 
in  this  work."  "This  espionage  system  was  supported  with 
large  funds."  But  the  writer  did  not  then  know  of  the  work 


32       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

to  be  carried  on  in  our  country  by  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff, 
by  von  Papen,  Captain  Boy-Ed,  Dumba  and  a  host  of  others. 
The  pamphlet  closed  with  "an  appeal  to  American 
Friends";  but  the  appeal  was  made  on  the  low  plane  of  profit 
and  loss. 

"The  American  citizen  who  is  now  leaving  Europe,  which  has 
been  turned  into  an  enormous  military  camp,  may  consider  himself 
fortunate  that  he  will  soon  be  able  to  set  foot  in  the  new  world  where 
he  will  be  enabled  again  to  take  up  his  business  pursuits.  .  .  .  But 
the  American  will  feel  the  effects  of  the  fate  of  the  old  world.  .  .  .  He 
will  be  affected  by  every  victory  and  defeat,  just  as  by  the  sun  and 
rain  in  his  own  country.  He  will  doubtless  remember  that  of  all 
European  countries,  Germany  is  the  best  customer  of  the  United 
States,  from  which  she  purchases  yearly  over  one  billion  marks  in 
cotton,  food,  metal  and  technical  products.  If  Germany  is  economi- 
cally ruined,  which  is  the  wish  of  Russia,  France  and  England  and  all 
the  allied  friends  of  wretched  Serbia,  it  would  mean  the  loss  of  a 
heavy  buyer  to  America  which  could  not  easily  be  made  good."  .  .  . 
In  forty-three  years  "England,  France  and  Russia  had  not  been  able 
to  increase  their  foreign  trade  three  times,  while  Germany  and  the 
United  States  have  increased  theirs  five  times.  The  trade  of  Germany 
and  the  United  States  has  increased  from  7.6  to  38  billion  marks. 
If  these  figures  show  nothing  else,  they  show  on  which  side  the 
American  sympathy  will  be." 

That  such  information  as  Germany  wished  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  have,  might  be  spread  as  far  and  as  wide  as 
possible  the  Oberburgermeister  of  Berlin  appealed  to  the  Mayor 
of  New  York  to  act  as  news  agent.  "The  Fatherland,"  said  he, 
"has  the  greatest  possible  concern  that  during  the  war  in  which 
it  is  fighting  for  life,  neutral  countries  may  not  be  informed 
of  events  of  the  war  solely  by  the  press  of  the  enemy."  The 
municipal  administration  of  Berlin  regarded  it  as  a  duty  to 
make  the  reports  of  the  German  press  on  the  progress  of  the 
war  accessible  to  the  authorities  and  citizens  of  the  great 
municipalities  of  neutral  states.  The  German  newspapers  regu- 
larly published  reports  from  General  Headquarters  on  the  state 
of  affairs.  This  information  which  came,  plain  and  unadorned, 
from  an  uncontaminated  source  would  give  to  the  world  trust- 
worthy and  clear  accounts  of  events.  He  would  be  greatly 
obliged,  therefore,  if  the  Mayor  would  be  willing  to  receive  the 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     33 

reports  and  send  them  to  the  sources  of  public  information  in 
the  city,  and  if  possible  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
citizens  by  having  them  exposed  in  the  reading  rooms,  or  in 
any  other  suitable  manner. 

Ninety-three  German  professors  and  representatives  of 
science  and  art  now  appealed  "To  the  Civilized  World"  against 
"the  lies  and  calumnies  with  which  our  enemies  are  endeavor- 
ing to  stain  the  honor  of  Germany  in  her  hard  struggle  for 
existence."  "It  is  not  true  that  Germany  caused  the  war." 
"Neither  the  people,  the  government,  nor  the  Kaiser  wanted 
war."  Not  until  "a  numerical  superiority  which  had  been  ly- 
ing in  wait  on  the  frontier  assailed  us  did  the  whole  nation  rise 
to  a  man." 

"It  is  not  true"  that  Germany  "trespassed  in  neutral  Bel- 
gium." "It  is  not  true  that  the  life  and  property  of  a  single 
Belgian  citizen  was  injured  by  our  soldiers  without  the  bit- 
terest self-defense  made  it  necessary."  "It  is  not  true  that  our 
troops  treated  Louvain  brutally."  "It  is  not  true  that  our  war- 
fare pays  no  respect  to  international  law."  "It  is  not  true 
that  the  combat  against  our  so-called  militarism  is  not  a  combat 
against  our  civilization,  as  our  enemies  hypocritically  pretend 
it  is.  Were  it  not  for  German  militarism  German  civilization 
would  long  since  have  been  extinguished." 

"We  cannot  wrest  the  poisonous  weapon — the  lie — out  of 
the  hands  of  our  enemies.  All  we  can  do  is  to  proclaim  to  all 
the  world  that  our  enemies  are  giving  false  witness  against 
us." 

"Have  faith  in  us !  Believe  that  we  shall  carry  on  the  war 
to  the  end  as  a  civilized  nation." 

Twenty-two  German  Universities  made  an  appeal,  and 
twenty  English  scholars  answered  that  of  the  German  profes- 
sors and  men  of  science.  Ludwig  Fulda,  well  known  as  a 
writer  of  poetry  and  prose,  addressed  an  open  letter  "To  Amer- 
icans from  a  German  Friend."  Fifty-three  British  authors 
came  to  the  defense  of  England.  Bernard  Shaw's  "Common 
Sense  About  the  War"  was  published  in  the  New  York  Times, 
and  was  vigorously  attacked  in  the  same  journal  by  Arnold 
Bennett.  After  the  "White  Papers"  of  Great  Britain  and  Ger- 
many, the  pamphlets  containing  the  correspondence  that  passed 


34       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

between  them  and  the  Powers  from  the  close  of  July  until  the 
declarations  of  war,  were  made  public,  "A  German  Review  of 
the  Evidence"  was  written  in  Germany  and  sent  to  Dr.  Bernard 
Dernburg  who  had  it  translated  and  published  in  the  New 
York  Times. 

From  Dr.  Dernburg  came  a  series  of  articles  afterward  col- 
lected and  published  in  a  pamphlet  "Search-Lights  on  the 
War."  One,  "Germany  and  England — The  Real  Issue,"  ap- 
peared in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post;  another,  "Germany  and 
the  Powers,"  in  the  North  American  Review;  another,  "Ger- 
many's Food  Supply,"  in  the  Review  of  Reviews,  and  another, 
"When  Germany  Wins,"  in  the  Independent  with  a  hearty  en- 
dorsement by  the  editor.  "We  hear  a  great  deal  about  what 
England  and  France  are  fighting  for,"  said  the  editor.  "We 
have  heard  very  little — except  from  English  sources — about 
what  Germany  is  fighting  for.  Here  is  a  chance  to  read  the 
other  side. 

"Dr.  Dernburg  stands  for  what  we  Americans  most  admire 
in  modern  Germany,  its  industries,  its  commerce,  its  technical 
schools  and  its  efficient  organization.  .  .  .  He  is  now  in  the 
country  on  a  most  important  mission.  As  a  man  thoroughly 
familiar  with  American  history  and  politics  as  well  as  finance 
he  understands  our  point  of  view  and  can  interpret  to  us  the 
point  of  view  of  his  own  country." 

And  now  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, resident  in  the  United  States,  began  to  talk. 

Sir  Lionel  Garden,  Minister  to  Mexico,  when  about  to  leave 
the  United  States  for  England,  denounced  the  Government  be- 
cause it  withdrew  the  troops  from  Vera  Cruz.  Baron  Wilhelm 
von  Schoen,  attached  to  the  German  Embassy  at  Tokio  until 
Japan  entered  the  war,  arrived  in  Washington  and  in  an  inter- 
view sought  to  excite  bad  feelings  towards  Japan.  There  feel- 
ing against  the  United  States,  he  said,  was  intense.  Should 
Japan  and  England  be  victorious,  which  he  did  not  believe 
could  happen,  the  danger  to  the  United  States  would  be  great. 
Japan  wanted  war.  His  meaning  plainly  was  that  the  United 
States  would  do  well  to  side  with  Germany. 

The  great  offender  was  the  Ambassador  from  Turkey,  A. 
Rustem  Bey.  His  country  had  not  yet  entered  the  war.  That 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF          35 

she  would  do  so  no  one  doubted  and  a  report  was  current  that 
Great  Britain  had  suggested  that  as  a  massacre  of  Christians 
was  likely,  the  United  States  should  send  warships  to  Turkish 
waters.  Concerning  this  the  Ambassador  in  an  interview  said 
Great  Britain,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  France,  had  agitated 
before  the  eyes  of  the  United  States  the  specter  of  a  massacre 
of  Christians  in  Turkey,  and  had  made  this  a  pretext  for  re- 
questing the  United  States  to  send  warships  to  Turkish  ports. 
Because  many  newspapers  were  siding  with  Great  Britain  and 
France  he  would  say  that  "the  thought  of  lynchings  which  occur 
daily  in  the  United  States,  and  the  memory  of  the  water  cure 
in  the  Philippines  should  make  them  chary  of  attacking  Turkey 
in  connection  with  acts  of  savagery  committed  by  her  under 
provocation."  Why  should  the  United  States,  not  one  of  whose 
citizens  had  ever  suffered  injury  in  Turkey,  "send  warships  to 
the  ports  of  that  country  with  the  result  that  it  would  only  cause 
irritation  against  her,  and  could  under  no  circumstances  act 
as  a  check?"  Bombard  Smyrna  and  Beyreuth?  "And  what 
more  could  she  do?  Nothing!  Besides  that  would  be  enough 
to  mean  war.  Do  the  people  of  the  United  States  want  war  ?" 

For  these  remarks  von  Schoen  and  Rustem  Bey  might  very 
properly  have  been  required  to  leave  the  country.  But  the  ad- 
ministration was  long  suffering.  The  attention  of  von  Bern- 
storff  was  called  to  the  utterances  of  von  Schoen,  then  attached 
to  the  German  Embassy  at  Washington;  the  offender  called 
at  the  Department  of  State  and  the  incident  was  settled.  Rus- 
tem Bey  would  neither  explain  nor  retract,  and,  passing  by  the 
Secretary  of  State,  he  called  on  the  President  and  announced 
that  he  had  asked  leave  of  absence  and  shortly  thereafter  left 
our  country  not  to  return. 

No  sooner  had  Congress  assembled  in  December  than  the 
German- Americans  turned  their  attention  to  munitions  of  war, 
and  sought  to  secure  legislation  to  prevent  the  export  of  guns, 
powder,  shrapnel  and  shells  from  the  United  States  to  any  of 
the  belligerents.  As  matters  then  stood  Germany  was  cut  off 
from  such  supplies  from  our  country.  Therefore  they  held  it 
was  unneutral  to  sell  munitions  of  war  to  the  Allies.  ,In  hope 
of  arousing  public  sympathy  for  Germany  resolutions  were 
offered  in  Congress  and  bills  were  introduced  to  prohibit  the 


86      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

sale  of  arms  and  ammunition  for  export  during  the  war ;  to  for- 
bid the  furnishing  of  war  materials  to  belligerent  nations ;  and 
thousands  of  telegrams  were  sent  to  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives urging  them  to  vote  for  one  or  the  other  of  the  bills.  At- 
tempts were  made  to  even  coerce  some  members,  and  petitions, 
chiefly  from  the  middle  western  part  of  our  country,  were  pre- 
sented by  scores.  One  from  a  meeting  of  citizens  of  Enderlin, 
North  Dakota,  presented  on  January  17,  was,  save  for  the 
preamble,  word  for  word  the  same  as  the  resolutions  adopted 
on  January  11  by  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  National 
German- American  Alliance.  Ten  nations,  the  preamble  to  the 
Enderlin  resolutions  said,  were  drawing  war  supplies  from  the 
United  States.  This  tended  to  increase  the  loss  of  life,  the 
destruction  of  property,  and  prolong  the  war.  As  a  people  we 
prayed  for  peace;  but  as  a  nation  we  helped  on  the  war  by 
emptying  our  private  arsenals  and  war  supplies  "onto  the  bat- 
tlefields of  Europe."  Our  Government  had  proclaimed  strict 
neutrality.  Yet,  when  we  offer  military  supplies  to  any  nation 
that  chooses  to  buy,  and  do  so  knowing  that  for  a  hundred  years 
England  by  her  supremacy  on  the  seas  is  master  of  all  contra- 
band goods,  we  are  pursuing  a  course  which  diverges  so  far 
from  strict  neutrality  that  we  injure  "our  ancient  friends,  Ger- 
many and  Austria,  by  every  means  in  our  power." 

Without  the  halls  of  Congress  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff 
led  the  opposition  by  filing  with  the  Department  of  State  on  De- 
cember 5  a  protest  against  dumdum  bullets  which  he  charged 
were  used  by  the  British  and  manufactured  in  the  United 
States.  It  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, he  said,  that  the  British  Government  had  placed,  with 
the  Winchester  Repeating  Arms  Company,  an  order  for 
"20,000  Riot  Guns  Models  1897  and  50,000,000  buckshot 
cartridges  for  the  same.  The  buckshot  cartridge  contains  nine 
shots. 

"The  use  of  those  arms  and  munitions  has  not  yet  become 
known  to  civilized  warfare. 

"The  Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Company  of  Bridgeport, 
Conn.,  on  October  20  took  out  through  Frank  O.  Hoagland,  the 
enclosed  patent  for  the  manufacture  of  a  'Mushroom  Bullet.' 

"According  to  information,  the  accuracy  of  which  is  not  to 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF      37 

be  doubted,  8,000,000  of  those  cartridges  have  been  delivered 
to  Canada  since  October  of  this  year  by  the  Union  Metallic 
Cartridge  Company  for  the  armament  of  the  British  Army. 
Cartridges  made  by  that  process,  although  cut  through,  cannot 
be  distinguished,  by  their  external  appearance,  from  the  regular 
full  jacketed  cartridges.  The  soldiers  in  whose  hands  this  kind 
of  ammunition  is  placed  by  the  British  Government  are  not  in 
position  to  know  that  they  are  firing  dumdum  bullets. 

"Whether  the  use  of  mushroom  bullets  is  contrary  to  the 
law  of  nations  is  open  to  discussion." 

The  letter  of  von  Bernstorff  having  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers, the  Winchester  Company  publicly  denied  that  it  had 
ever  received  an  order  for  riot  guns  and  cartridges  from  the 
British  Government  or  any  other  government  engaged  in  the 
present  war,  or  had  ever  sold  any  such  material  to  the  British 
Government  or  any  other  government  engaged  in  the  present 
war.  As  to  the  8,000,000  mushroom  bullets  the  Remington 
Arms-Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Company  on  December  10 
wrote  von  Bernstorff  that  but  a  little  over  117,000  had  been 
made  and  only  109,000  sold,  that  they  were  manufactured  to 
meet  a  demand  for  a  better  sporting  cartridge  with  a  soft  nose 
bullet  and  could  not  be  used  in  the  military  rifle  of  any  foreign 
power. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Bryan  called  on  the  firms  concerned  for 
information  as  to  what  they  had  done.  The  Winchester  Arms 
Company,  by  telegraph,  confirmed  their  public  statement.  The 
Remington  Company  sent  a  copy  of  their  letter  to  von  Bern- 
storff, and  gave  a  list  of  the  names  of  every  person  to  whom 
mushroom  bullets  had  been  sold  and  the  number  in  each  case. 
From  this  list  it  appeared  they  had  been  sold  in  lots  of  from 
20  to  2,000;  that  only  960  cartridges  went  to  British  North 
America,  and  100  to  British  East  Africa. 

Could  the  Ambassador  furnish  evidence,  Mr.  Bryan  replied, 
that  any  company  was  furnishing  to  the  armies  in  Europe, 
cartridges  whose  use  would  be  contrary  to  The  Hague  Con- 
ventions the  President  would  us"e  his  influence  to  prevent  the 
sale  of  such  ammunition,  without  regard  to  whether  it  was 
or  was  not  the  duty  of  the  Government,  on  legal  or  conventional 
grounds,  to  take  such  action. 


38       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

!N"o  war  munitions  of  any  consequence  had  as  yet  been  ex- 
ported. That  they  would  be  seemed  certain  and  to  prevent  it 
the  agitation  for  an  embargo  was  taken  up  by  the  German- 
Americans.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the 
National  German-American  Alliance  on  December  11,  attended 
by  delegates  from  almost  a  hundred  local  societies  with  a  mem- 
bership of  some  40,000,  it  was  resolved  that  it  was  "the  impera- 
tive duty"  of  Congress  to  pass  such  laws  as  would  enable  the 
President  "to  lay  an  embargo  upon  all  contraband  of  war, 
saving  and  excepting  foodstuffs  alone,  and  thereby  withdraw 
from  the  contending  Powers  all  aid  and  assistance  of  this 
Republic." 

The  meeting,  it  was  resolved,  rejected  "as  hypocrisy  and 
national  sacrilege  the  commercial  spirit  of  the  country  that  is 
answering  our  supplications  for  peace  by  sending  the  instru- 
ments of  destruction  and  death  to  the  serried  armies  arrayed 
in  struggle  through  the  empires  of  Europe."  As  citizens  who 
had  contributed  their  full  share  to  American  peace,  Christianity 
and  civilization,  they  called  on  all  Americans  to  join  in  enforc- 
ing that  strict  American  neutrality  that  would  give  aid  and 
comfort  to  none  of  the  contending  Powers,  but  would  withhold 
American  resources  from  promoting  destruction  and  slaughter 
among  the  friendly  nations  of  Europe. 

A  few  days  later  some  two  hundred  German- Americans  met 
in  Philadedphia  to  devise  a  plan  for  placing  before  the  author- 
ities in  Washington  the  question,  Cannot  the  shipment  of  muni- 
tions be  stopped?  It  was  admitted  that  the  meeting  had  no 
specific  facts,  but  the  speakers  were  sure  that  questionable  sales 
had  been  made,  that  the  spirit  of  the  neutrality  proclamation 
had  been  violated.  It  was  therefore  suggested  that  British- 
Americans,  French-Americans,  Russian-Americans,  sons  of  all 
the  belligerent  nations  be  asked  to  join  with  German- Americans 
in  a  call  on  the  Government  to  stop  the  shipment  of  munitions 
of  war.  Unable  to  see  how  this  could  be  done,  the  meeting 
adjourned  to  meet  again. 

But  there  were  other  ways  in  which  the  friends  of  Germany 
did  their  evil  work.  Charges  of  bad  faith  were  made  against 
the  Government  in  the  press  and  on  the  platform.  It  was 
partial  to  the  Allies,  unfriendly  to  Germany;  negligent  of  its 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     39 

duties  as  a  neutral,  submissive  while  Great  Britain  searched 
our  vessels,  seized  our  copper  on  its  way  to  neutral  ports,  cut 
off  our  commerce  and  made  contraband  such  articles  of  com- 
merce as  she  saw  fit.  When  Congress  met  members  with  Ger- 
man-American and  pro-German  constituents  were  deluged  with 
letters  of  complaint. 

Taking  up  these  charges,  Senator  Stone  of  Missouri  sum- 
marized them  under  twenty  heads  and  January  8,  1915,  wrote' 
Mr.  Bryan: 

As  you  are  aware,  frequent  complaints  or  charges  are  made  in 
one  form  or  another  through  the  press  that  this  Government  has 
shown  partiality  to  Great  Britain,  France  and  Russia  as  against 
Germany  and  Austria  during  the  present  war  between  those  Powers; 
in  addition  to  which  I  have  received  numerous  letters  to  the  same 
effect  from  sympathizers  with  Germany  and  Austria.  The  various 
grounds  of  these  complaints  may  be  summarized  and  stated  in  the 
following  form. 

The  Senator  then  gave  the  list  of  twenty  complaints  and 
asked  "if  not  incompatible  with  the  public  interests,"  that  he 
be  furnished  with  whatever  information  the  Department  has, 
"touching  the  various  points  of  complaint." 

Mr.  Bryan  replied  on  January  24,  took  up  the  charges  and 
complaints  one  by  one  and  answered  them. 

"1.  Freedom  of  communication  by  submarine  cables,  but 
censorship  of  wireless  messages." 

Communication  by  cable  had  not  been  interfered  with  be- 
cause a  belligerent  could  cut  a  cable,  and  they  had  done  so,  the 
British  having  cut  the  German  cable  near  the  Azores,  and  the 
Germans  a  British  cable  near  the  Fanning  Islands.  Since 
cables  could  be  destroyed  the  responsibility  fell  on  the  belliger- 
ents and  not  on  neutrals  to  prevent  communication.  But  it  was 
not  in  the  power  of  belligerents  to  prevent  wireless  messages 
going  out  from  a  neutral  country  to  a  warship  on  the  high  seas. 
If  such  messages  directed  the  movements  of  warships,  or  gave 
information  of  the  whereabouts  of  an  enemy's  public  or  private 
ships,  the  neutral  territory  was  being  used  as  a  naval  base,  to 
allow  which  was  an  unneutral  act 


40       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

2.  "Submission  to  censorship  of  mails  and  in  some  cases 
to  the  repeated  destruction  of  American  letters  found  on  neutral 
vessels,"  was  another  complaint.     The  Secretary  pointed  out 
that  both  Great  Britain  and  Germany  had  censored  private 
letters ;  that  they  had  a  right  to  do  so,  and  that  the  Department 
knew  of  no  evidence  that  mail  had  been  destroyed  on  neutral 
ships. 

3.  "The  search  of  American  vessels  for  German  and  Aus- 
trian subjects  on  the  high  seas  and  in  territorial  waters  of  a 
belligerent."    Two  instances  had  occurred  on  the  high  seas,  and 
in  both  cases  vigorous  representations  had  been  made  to  the 
offending  governments. 

4.  "Submission  without  protest  to  English  violations  of 
the  rules  regarding  absolute  and  conditional  contraband,  as  laid 
down  in  The  Hague  Conventions,  in  international  law,  in  the 
Declaration  of  London."     There  is  no  Hague  Convention,  the 
Secretary  replied,   which  deals  with  absolute   or   conditional 
contraband;  the  Declaration  of  London  is  not  in  force,  inter- 
national law  alone  applies,  and  as  to  articles  of  contraband 
there  is  no  general  agreement  among  nations.     The  United 
States  had  protested  against  the  seizure  and  detention  by  Brit- 
ish authorities  of  all  American  ships  and  cargoes  truly  destined 
for  neutral  ports. 

5.  "Submission  without  protest  to  inclusion  of  copper  in 
the  lists  of  absolute  contraband."    In  every  case  in  which  Great 
Britain  had  seized  copper  shipments  the  United  States  had 
protested. 

6.  "Submission    without    protest    to    interference    with 
American  trade  to  neutral  countries  in  conditional  contraband, 
in  absolute  contraband."    The  recent  note  to  Great  Britain  the 
Secretary  considered  a  full  answer  to  this  complaint. 

7.  "Submission  without  protest  to  interruption  of  trade 
in  conditional  contraband  consigned  to  private  persons  in  Ger- 
many and  Austria,   thereby  supporting  the  policy  of  Great 
Britain  to  cut  off  all  supplies  from  Germany  and  Austria."    As 
no  American  vessel  so  far  as  known  had  attempted  to  carry 
conditional  contraband  to  Germany  or  Austria,  no  complaints 
of  seizure  had  arisen. 

8.  "Submission  to  British  interruption  of  trade  in  pe- 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     41 

troleum,  rubber,  leather,  wool,  &c.,"  was  another  grievance. 
The  United  States,  Mr.  Bryan  answered,  "has,  thus  far,  suc- 
cessfully obtained  the  release  in  every  case  of  detention  or 
seizure"  of  petroleum  "brought  to  its  attention."  Rubber  had 
been  placed  on  the  absolute  and  leather  on  the  conditional  con- 
traband lists  by  both  France  and  Great  Britain. 

9.  "No  interference  with  the  sale  to  Great  Britain  and  her 
Allies  of  arms,  ammunition,  horses,  uniforms,  and  other  muni- 
tions  of  war,    although   such   sales   prolong  the  war."      The 
Executive  had  no  power  to  prevent  such  sales.     Neither  inter- 
national law  nor  municipal  statute  prohibited  a  neutral  to  trade 
in  munitions  of  war. 

10.  "No  suppression  of  sale  of  dumdum  bullets  to  Great 
Britain."    On  the  fifth  of  December,  was  the  reply,  the  German 
Ambassador  presented  a  note  charging  the  British  Government 
with  having  ordered  from    the    Winchester  Repeating  Arms 
Company,  20,000  riot  guns,  Model  1897,  and  50,000,000  buck- 
shot cartridges  for  use  in  such  guns.    The  Winchester  Company 
publicly,  and  to  the  Department,  had  denied  that  any  such 
order  has  been  given  by  any  government  engaged  in  the  present 
war.      The  German    Ambassador    had    further  charged  that 
8,000,000  cartridges  fitted  with  mushroom  bullets  had  been 
sold  by  the  Remington  Arms-Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Com- 
pany to  the  British  Government  for  its  army.     The  company 
replied  that  it  had  sold  to  private  persons  109,000  soft-nosed 
bullets  to  supply  a  demand  for  a  better  sporting  cartridge,  that 
they  could  not  be  used  in  the  military  rifle  of  any  foreign 
power;  gave  the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  had  been 
sold  in  lots  of  from  20  to  5,000,  and  proved  that  only  960  had 
gone  to  British  North    America,    and    100  to  British  East 
Africa. 

11.  "British  warships  are  permitted  to  lie  off  American 
ports  and  intercept  neutral  vessels."    Representation  had  been 
made  to  the  British  Government  that  the  presence  of  war  ves- 
sels off  New  York  was  offensive,  and  a  like  complaint  to  the 
Japanese  Government  as  to  cruisers  near  Honolulu.     In  both 
cases  they  were  withdrawn. 

12.  "Submission  without  protest  to  disregard  by  Great 
Britain  and  her  Allies  of  American  naturalization  certificates, 


42       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

American  passports."  Bearers  of  American  passports,  was  the 
answer,  have  been  arrested  in  all  countries  at  war,  and  in  every 
case  the  American  Government  has  entered  vigorous  protest. 
Authentic  cases  have  come  to  the  notice  of  the  Department  in 
which  American  passports  have  been  fraudulently  obtained  and 
used  by  certain  German  subjects.  At  least  four  persons  of  Ger- 
man nationality  had  been  arrested  for  having  obtained  Amer- 
ican passports  under  pretense  of  American  citizenship,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  returning  unmolested  to  Germany.  There  were 
indications  of  a  systematic  plan  for  obtaining  passports  by 
fraud  that  German  officers  and  reservists  might  return  to  Ger- 
many in  safety. 

13.  "Change  of  policy  in  regard  to  loans  to  belligerents." 
War  loans  were  disapproved  because  inconsistent  with  the  spirit 
of  neutrality,  and  the  disapproval  affected  all  countries  alike. 
Such  loans  if  offered  for  popular  subscription  would  be  taken 
up  chiefly  by  sympathizers  with  the  country  offering  the  loan. 
Large  numbers  of  the  American  people  might  thus  become  earn- 
est partisans  which  would  result  in  intense  bitterness. 

14.  "Submission  to  arrest  of  native-born  Americans  on 
neutral  vessels  and  in  British  ports  and  their  imprisonment." 
That  such  cases  had  occurred  was  true,  but  Americans  in  Ger- 
many had  suffered  in  the  same  way.    Every  case  known  to  the 
Department  had  been  investigated  and  if  the  facts  warranted 
a  demand  for  release,  it  was  made. 

15.  "Indifference  to  confinement  of  noncombatants  in  de- 
tention camps  in  England  and  France."     All  the  belligerents, 
save  Russia  and  Serbia,  had  made  complaints  about  noncom- 
batants confined  in  detention  camps,  and  those  for  whom  the 
Government  was  acting  had  asked  investigations  which  had  been 
made  impartially  by  representatives  of  the  Government.    Their 
reports  showed  that  the  treatment  of  prisoners  was  as  good  as 
possible,  and  there  was  no  more  reason  for  saying  they  were 
mistreated  in  one  country  than  in  another,  or  that  this  Govern- 
ment had  been  indifferent  in  the  matter. 

16.  "Failure  to  prevent  transshipment  of  British  troops 
and  war  materials  across  the  territory  of  the  United  States." 

There  were  no  cases  of  passage  of  convoys  or  troops  across 
our  territory.     The  Canadian  Government  had  requested  per- 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF      43 

mission  to  ship  equipment  across  Alaska  to  the  sea.     The  re- 
quest was  refused. 

17.  "Treatment  and  final  internment  of  German  steam- 
ship Geier  and  the  collier  Locksun  at  Honolulu."     The  Geier, 
said  the  Secretary,  entered  Honolulu  on  October  15,  in  an  un- 
seaworthy  condition,  was  allowed  three  weeks  to  make  repairs, 
and  while  doing  so,  the  Japanese  cruiser  appeared  off  the  port, 
and  the  Geier  interned.     Soon  after  the  Geier  came  to  the  port 
the  steamer  Locksun  arrived.     She  had  delivered  coal  to  the 
Geier  at  sea  and  had  followed  her  to  Honolulu.     By  so  doing 
she  became  a  tender  to  the  Geier  and  was  interned. 

18.  "Unfairness  to  Germany  in  rules  relative  to  coaling 
of  warships  in  Panama  Canal  Zone." 

Regulations  for  coaling  warships,  their  tenders  or  colliers 
in  the  Canal  Zone  were  framed  through  the  collaboration  of 
the  State,  War  and  Navy  Departments  without  reference  to 
favoritism  to  belligerents.  Fuel  may  be  taken  by  belligerent 
warships  with  consent  of  the  canal  authorities  and  in  such 
amount  as  will  enable  them  to  reach  the  nearest  neutral  port. 
This  it  had  been  said  is  unfair,  because  Great  Britain  has  col- 
onies near  by  where  her  ships  may  coal  while  Germany  has  not. 
The  United  States  therefore  should  balance  the  inequality  of 
geographical  position  by  refusing  to  allow  any  warship  of  bel- 
ligerents to  coal  in  the  Canal  Zone  during  the  war.  As  no 
German  warship  has  sought  to  obtain  coal  in  this  Zone,  the 
charge  of  discrimination  rested  on  a  possibility  that  had  not 
materialized. 

19.  "Failure  to  protest  against  the  modifications  of  the 
Declaration  of  London  by  the  British  Government." 

As  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  not  now  inter- 
ested in  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  by  the  belligerents, 
their  modifications  were  of  no  concern  save  as  they  infringed 
the  rights  of  the  United  States.  In  so  far  as  they  had  the  De- 
partment had  made  every  effort  to  obtain  redress. 

20.  "General  unfriendly  attitude  of  Government  towards 
Germany  and  Austria." 

To  this  charge  Mr.  Bryan  replied :  "If  any  American  cit- 
izens, partisans  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  feel  that 
this  administration  is  acting  in  a  way  injurious  to  the  cause 


of  those  countries,  this  feeling  results  from  the  fact  that  on  the 
high  seas  the  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  naval  power  is 
thife  far  inferior  to  the  British.  It  is  the  business  of  a  bellig- 
erent operating  on  the  high  seas,  not  the  duty  of  a  neutral,  to 
prevent  contraband  from  reaching  an  enemy. 

"Those  in  this  country  who  sympathize  with  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  appear  to  assume  that  some  obligation  rests 
upon  this  Government,  in  the  performance  of  its  neutral  duty, 
to  prevent  all  trade  in  contraband,  and  thus  to  equalize  the  dif- 
ference due  to  the  relative  naval  strength  of  the  belligerents. 
No  such  obligation  exists ;  it  would  be  an  unneutral  act,  an  act 
of  partiality  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  adopt  such  a 
policy  if  the  Executive  had  the  power  to  do  so.  If  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary  cannot  import  contraband  from  this 
country  it  is  not,  because  of  that  fact,  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  close  its  markets  to  the  Allies.  The  markets  of  this 
country  are  open  upon  equal  terms  to  all  the  world,  to  every 
nation,  belligerent  or  neutral." 

As  the  German  armies  swept  through  Belgium,  burning  and 
plundering  the  towns,  killing  men,  women  and  children,  de- 
stroying farms  and  shooting  peasants  at  work  in  the  fields  or 
met  with  on  the  roads,  the  civil  population  fled  before  them, 
leaving  their  all  behind.  After  the  fall  of  Brussels  in  August 
and  Antwerp  in  October,  a  million  refugees,  it  was  said,  had 
found  safety  in  Holland.  In  one  week,  in  October,  seventy 
thousand  reached  London.  Such  as  remained  were  reduced  to 
dire  want.  Seizure  of  cattle  by  the  Germans  left  them  without 
beef,  milk,  cheese.  The  shops  had  no  food  to  sell;  the  people, 
deprived  of  their  usual  occupations,  had  no  money  to  buy.  The 
lace  makers  of  Brussels  were  out  of  work.  The  tapestry  fac- 
tories of  Mechlin  were  in  ruins.  The  diamond  cutters  of  Ant- 
werp were  scattered.  Belgium  in  times  of  peace  produced  but 
a  sixth  of  her  food,  and  drew  largely  on  the  United  States  for 
grain.  This  was  cut  off  by  the  war,  and  the  bakeries  were  shut. 
Liege,  Louvain,  Namur,  Charleroi,  Mons,  Dinant  were  so  shat- 
tered by  shell  fire  that  half  the  population  were  without  decent 
shelter. 

At  Brussels  a  relief  committee  was  organized,  a  goodly  sum 
of  money  raised  and  Mr.  Willard  Shaler,  an  American  mining 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     45 

engineer  just  back  from  the  Congo  when  the  war  opened,  was 
asked  to  go  to  London,  buy  as  much  food  as  possible,  arrange 
for  sending  it  across  the  frontier  and  report  on  the  prospect 
of  securing  more  in  the  future.  Assurances  were  given  by  the 
German  authorities  that  supplies  imported  for  the  use  of  the 
civil  population  would  not  be  requisitioned.  Mr.  Shaler  set 
off  at  once  and  reached  London  towards  the  close  of  Septem- 
ber, and  early  in  October  was  followed  by  Mr.  Hugh  Gibson, 
Secretary  of  our  Legation  at  Brussels.  He  found  that  Mr. 
Shaler  had  purchased  food,  but  had  not  received  permission 
from  the  Foreign  Office  to  ship  it  through  the  blockade. 

That  there  might  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  German  pledge, 
Mr.  Page,  American  Ambassador  in  London,  on  October  7 
cabled  to  Mr.  Bryan  that  a  Belgian  Committee  had  been 
formed  in  Brussels  under  the  patronage  of  the  American  and 
Spanish  ministers;  that  its  object  was  to  import  food  for  the 
poor  of  Belgium;  that  the  German  authorities  in  the  occupied 
country  had  consented,  that  the  British  Government  had  given 
permission  for  food  to  be  exported,  provided  it  were  sent  by  the 
American  Embassy  at  London  consigned  to  the  American  Lega- 
tion at  Brussels,  and  that  Mr.  Shaler,  an  American,  was  then 
in  London  purchasing  supplies.  It  would  be  well,  Mr.  Page 
thought,  that  a  definite  assurance  be  obtained  from  Germany 
of  her  approval  of  this  humane  project. 

Mr.  Gerard  was  at  once  instructed  to  take  up  the  matter, 
informally,  with  the  German  Foreign  Office,  and  while  await- 
ing a  reply  he  received  a  cablegram  from  Mr.  Whitlock. 

The  Committee  for  the  Provisioning  of  Brussels  had  re- 
quested that  Mr.  Gibson  return  to  London  and  seek  to  arrange 
a  permanent  agreement  with  the  British  Government  by  which 
the  civil  population  of  all  Belgium  might  be  provisioned.  It 
was  concerning  this  matter  that  Mr.  Whitlock  telegraphed  the 
Secretary  of  State,  on  October  16.  "A  grave  situation,"  he 
said,  "confronts  the  land.  In  normal  times  Belgium  produces 
only  one-sixth  of  the  foodstuffs  she  consumes.  Within  two 
weeks  there  will  be  no  more  food  in  Belgium.  Winter  is  com- 
ing on  and  there  are  thousands  who  are  without  homes  and 
without  hope.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  to  extend  this  relief 
work  to  the  whole  of  Belgium.  My  Spanish  colleague  and  I 


have  been  requested  by  the  local  Belgian  authorities  and  by  the 
German  military  authorities  to  permit  the  organization,  under 
our  patronage,  of  a  committee  that  will  undertake  to  revictual 
all  of  Belgium,  and  we  have  secured  from  the  German  military 
authorities  formal  official  assurance  that  all  foodstuffs  shipped 
into  Belgium  in  the  care  of  the  committee  and  intended  for 
the  feeding  of  the  impoverished  civil  population  will  be  re- 
spected by  the  soldiery  and  not  made  the  object  of  military 
requisition.  Jt  is  now  necessary  to  obtain  permission  from  the 
English  Government  that  foodstuffs  may  be  shipped  into  Bel- 
gium. In  view  of  this  fact  Gibson  goes  to  London  to-morrow 
with  messages  from  the  Spanish  Minister  and  me  to  the  re- 
spective Ambassadors  of  our  countries  to  lay  the  subject  be- 
fore them.  Baron  Lambert  and  Mr.  Franqui,  representing  the 
Belgian  Relief  Committee,  will  accompany  him  to  acquaint  the 
Belgian  Minister  in  London  with  the  situation  and  ask  him  to 
present  the  matter  to  the  British  Government.  Our  hope  is 
that  the  Belgian  Minister  can  arrange,  and  if  there  be  no  im- 
propriety in  their  so  doing,  that  the  American  and  Spanish 
Ambassadors  may  assist  him  in  arranging  for  the  passage  of 
the  provisions  which  the  Commission  is  ready  to  buy. 

"I  trust  the  Department  will  approve  this  course  and  fur- 
ther it  by  instructions  to  London.  It  is  not  money  but  food 
that  is  needed.  If  some  appropriate  means  can  be  found  to  call 
the  attention  of  our  generous  people  at  home  to  the  plight  of 
the  poor  in  Belgium  I  am  sure  that  they  will  send  succor  and 
relief  for  the  winter  that  is  drawing  near." 

The  German  Government  approved  the  plan;  the  British 
and  French  Governments  promised  the  unmolested  passage  of 
neutral  food  ships  from  the  United  States  to  Holland,  for  Bel- 
gium; the  German  Government  agreed  to  allow  unneutral 
ships  to  carry  food  for  Belgians  to  Dutch  ports;  the  American 
Government  endorsed  the  plan  as  outlined  by  Mr.  Whitlock 
and  the  great  work  of  feeding  Belgium  began. 

At  London  Mr.  Gibson  found  good  friends  of  Belgium  who 
raised  £150,000,  formed  a  committee  with  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover 
as  Chairman,  and  undertook  the  work  of  feeding  the  Belgian 
civil  population.  The  British  Government  stipulated  that  the 
work  be  carried  on  by  a  neutral  organization  under  the  pat- 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF     47. 

ronage  of  the  American  and  Spanish  Ambassadors  in  London 
and  Berlin,  and  the  American  and  Spanish  Ministers  at- Brus- 
sels, and  that  the  food  be  consigned  to  the  American  Minister 
at  Brussels  by  the  London  American  Relief  Committee  with 
Mr.  Hoover  at  its  head.  All  the  local  Belgian  Relief  Com- 
mittees were  to  be  united  and  form  one  national  committee. 
But,  as  the  members  were  all  prisoners  of  the  Germans,  the 
British  Government  stipulated  that  all  responsibility  be  as- 
sumed by  the  American  Committee  and  that  those  of  the  Bel- 
gians become  distributing  agencies. 

Early  in  November  the  first  consignment  of  food  reached 
Brussels,  other  barges  followed,  and  in  response  to  an  appeal 
by  Mr.  Hoover  a  number  of  American  Rhodes  Scholars  dropped 
their  work  at  Oxford  and  went  to  Brussels  to  do  their  part  in 
distributing  food  to  the  Belgians. 

Appeal  after  appeal,  meanwhile,  was  made  to  our  country- 
men. The  Belgian  Legation  asked  food  and  clothes  for  women 
and  children.  Cardinal  Gibbons  plead  for  them.  The  suffer- 
ing of  the  Belgians,  he  said,  was  beyond  words.  Their  coun- 
try had  become  the  battlefield  of  nations.  Innocent  of  wrong 
doing,  they  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  into  England, 
France  and  Holland.  They  could  not  look  to  these  countries  for 
help.  Therefore,  when  the  cry  came  to  us  we  should  hear  it. 
All  in  our  country  who  could  should  give  relief,  for  Belgium 
deserved  the  sympathy  of  all.  Cardinal  Mercier,  through  the 
American  Committee  in  London,  begged  for  food,  for  pota- 
toes, peas,  grain,  flour,  meat.  Everything  was  lacking. 

Mr.  Whitlock  reported  that  less  than  two  weeks'  supply 
of  food  remained  in  the  Belgian  cities;  that  a  hundred  soup 
kitchens  were  feeding  a  hundred  thousand  needy  in  Brussels; 
that  Louvain  had  flour  enough  to  last  four  days  and  that 
Liege  had  none  at  all.  Nearly  half  the  peasants  were  wander- 
ing from  town  to  town  seeking  food  and  shelter. 

The  response  was  quick.  Relief  Committees  were  organ- 
ized the  land  over,  and  money,  clothing,  food  were  freely  given 
and  hurried  to  New  York  for  shipment  to  Holland. 

At  New  York  late  in  October,  after  an  exchange  of  cable- 
grams with  Mr.  Page  in  London  and  Dr.  Van  Dyke  in  Hol- 
land, $300,000  was  set  apart  by  the  Belgian  Committee  for 


48      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  purchase  of  food  to  be  sent  at  once.  Half  of  the  money 
came  from  the  American  Commission  for  Belgian  Relief  in 
London  for  no  more  food  was  obtainable  in  England.  The 
Rockefeller  Foundation  in  the  opening  days  of  November  char- 
tered a  steamer  and  dispatched  her  to  Rotterdam  with  four 
thousand  tons  of  flour,  rice  and  beans,  and  sent  a  commission 
to  Europe  to  visit  the  warring  countries  and  obtain  expert  ad- 
vice as  to  the  time,  place  and  means  of  rendering  aid  most 
effectively.  The  Red  Cross  cabled  money  for  relief  of  Belgian 
refugees  in  Holland. 

A  cablegram  from  Mr.  Page  to  the  President  of  the  Bel- 
gian Relief  formed  in  Philadelphia  announced  that  "there 
are  3,000,000  starving  men  and  children  in  Belgium.  The 
Commission  makes  an  appeal  to  all  neutral  countries  for  a 
total  of  $5,000,000  a  month  for  the  winter.  There  has  never 
been  such  dire  want  in  any  land  in  our  time."  No  sooner  was 
it  received  than  Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  who  had  chartered  the 
Norwegian  ship  Thelma  to  carry  food,  called  a  meeting  of  the 
owners  and  managers  of  the  chief  newspapers  in  Philadelphia 
who  agreed  to  do  their  best  to  arouse  the  people  to  fill  the  ship. 
An  executive  committee  representing  seven  newspapers  took 
up  the  work,  made  the  appeal  and  in  four  days  the  ship  was 
filled  and  ready  to  sail. 

Announcement  was  now  made  that  the  steamship  North- 
western Miller  would  sail  from  Philadelphia,  in  December, 
loaded  with  flour  contributed  by  the  millers  of  the  northwest. 
Their  gift  of  forty-five  thousand  barrels  would  be  carried  free 
by  the  railroads.  Scarcely  had  the  Thelma  gone  when  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  send  a  second  ship,  and  two  others  were 
chartered  by  the  Rockefeller  Foundation  to  carry  food  pur- 
chased by  the  New  York  Belgian  Relief  Committee.  The 
urgency  of  the  situation,  said  the  Committee  in  their  appeal 
for  funds,  cannot  be  overestimated.  The  suffering  among  the 
women  and  children  and  other  noncombatants  for  lack  of 
food  is  daily  becoming  more  acute.  The  statement  was  borne 
out  by  the  report  of  one  who  went  with  the  first  cargo  of  food 
sent  from  London  to  Rotterdam  by  the  American  Commission 
for  Relief  in  Belgium. 

"Nothing  that  has  been  written  exaggerates  the  misery  in 


PRO-GERMAN  PROPAGANDA— BELGIAN  RELIEF      49 

Belgium.  We  drove  for  miles  through  graveyards.  Stakes,  on 
some  of  which  were  soldiers'  tattered  coats  and  helmets,  were 
the  tombstones,  deserted  fields  are  cemeteries.  As  we  entered 
the  villages  women  and  children  sought  refuge  in  the  ruins 
of  roofless  homes,  terrified  lest  we  were  some  fresh  visitation  of 
war. 

"The  Belgian  peasant  has  in  many  districts  no  home  in 
which  to  sleep,  no  seed  to  sow,  no  implements  with  which  to 
work,  no  transport  to  reach  a  market,  and  finally  no  heart  to 
struggle  against  the  inevitable.  It  is  unbelievable  that  war 
ever  produced  such  a  complete  and  tragic  paralysis  as  we  saw 
in  many  parts  of  Belgium." 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker  in  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Gibbons  and  to 
the  heads  of  a  great  corporation  in  Philadelphia,  asked  "for 
food,  for  starving  Belgium.  I  am  here,"  said  he,  "on  the  bor- 
ders of  Belgium,  watching  the  refugees  fleeing  into  Holland 
from  their  devastated  -country.  Many  towns  and  cities  are 
absolutely  destroyed.  Countless  homes  are  in  ashes. 

"Unless  America  renders  immediate  aid  starvation  will 
destroy  more  Belgians  than  have  been  killed  in  war.  The 
American  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium  asks  for  less  than 
half  a  soldier's  ration  for  each  Belgian.  They  ask  for  bread 
and  salt  only.  Will  you  not  help  to  save  the  names  of  Chris- 
tianity and  civilization  by  gifts  of  money?" 

In  Brussels,  where  several  hundred  thousand  men,  women 
and  children  were  fed,  the  ration  was  a  little  potato  soup  and 
six  ounces  of  bread.  Such  as  could  paid  a  cent  for  the  meal, 
which  cost  three  cents,  and  the  money  was  used  to  buy  more 
food. 

To  help  speed  the  good  work,  the  American  Commission  in 
London  opened  an  office  in  New  York.  It  came  not  to  meddle 
with  the  relief  committees  already  in  the  country,  but  to  attend 
to  transportation  of  supplies.  It  had  the  funds  and  had  made 
all  diplomatic  arrangements.  What  Belgium  needed  most  of 
all  was  food,  any  kind  of  food,  that  would  stand  ocean  trans- 
portation. Wheat,  flour,  beans,  peas,  preserved  meat  were 
needed,  but  above  all  condensed  milk  for  the  children,  for  Bel- 
gium was  stripped  of  cattle. 

As  the  need  of  relief  grew  greater  and  greater  it  became 


50      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

quite  clear  that  so  stupendous  an  undertaking  could  not  be 
carried  on  by  charitable  gifts,  and  through  our  Ambassador 
Mr.  Hoover  appealed  to  the  governments  of  Great  Britain  and 
France.  The  call  was  heard  and  £500,000  per  month  was 
granted  by  Great  Britain  and  12,500,000  francs  per  month  by 
France.  To  this  was  added  by  French  institutions  25,000,000 
francs  per  month  for  the  relief  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  area 
in  Northern  France  occupied  by  the  Germans.  June  1,  1917, 
when  our  Government  took  over  the  financing  of  the  work  of 
relief  for  Belgium  and  Northern  France,  the  Commission  for 
Relief  in  Belgium  had  received  from  Great  Britain  $89,- 
500,000,  from  the  French  Government  $66,000,000  for  Bel- 
gium and  $108,000,000  from  France  for  use  in  the  occupied  ter- 
ritory. Some  $16,000,000  in  cash  and  clothing  came  in  ad- 
dition from  committees  and  individuals  in  the  British  Em- 
pire; $11*500,000  from  the  United  States  and  $3,000,000 
from  the  rest  of  the  world.  June  1  our  Government  loaned 
$75,000,000  to  be  paid  in  six  monthly  instalments  of  $12,- 
500,000,  of  which  $7,500,000  was  to  go  to  Belgium,  and 
$5,000,000  to  France. 


CHAPTER  III 

NEUTBAL   TEADE 

THE  entrance  of  the  great  commercial  nations  of  Europe 
into  the  war  at  once  involved  our  country  in  a  struggle  for  its 
neutral  rights.  With  the  German  merchant  shipping  swept 
from  the  seas,  and  the  German  fleet,  save  a  few  commerce 
raiders,  driven  into  the  ports  and  harbors  of  Germany,  Great 
Britain  was  free  to  turn  her  attention  to  the  destruction  of  that 
neutral  trade  from  which  Germany  might  obtain  supplies  of 
a  warlike  character.  Water-borne  traffic  of  this  sort  going 
direct  to  Germany  in  neutral  bottoms  was  easily  stopped.  But 
to  cut  off  the  supply  which  found  its  way  through  neutral 
countries  she  was  forced  to  adopt  a  policy  which  pressed  heav- 
ily on  the  commerce  of  the  neutrals  concerned. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  Department  of  State  in- 
structed our  Ambassador  at  London  to  inquire  if  the  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain  would  agree  "that  the  laws  of  naval 
warfare  as  laid  down  by  the  Declaration  of  London  of  1909," 
should  "be  applicable  to  naval  warfare  during  the  present  con- 
flict in  Europe,"  provided  all  the  governments  with  whom  Great 
Britain  was  or  might  be  at  war  would  do  the  same.  Like  in- 
structions were  sent  to  our  Ambassadors  at  Paris,  Berlin,  Vi- 
enna, St.  Petersburg  and  the  Legation  at  Brussels.  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Germany  agreed;  Russia  replied  that  whatever 
course  of  action  Great  Britain  took  she  would  follow.  Great 
Britain  "decided  to  adopt  generally  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Declaration  in  question,  subject  to  certain  modifications 
and  additions,"  and  set  forth  these  additions  in  orders  in 
Council.  They  consisted  of  new  lists  of  absolute  and  condi- 
tional contraband,  in  lieu  of  those  contained  in  articles  22  and 
24  of  the  Declaration;  of  the  announcement  that  the  British 
Navy  would  "treat  as  liable  to  capture  a  vessel  which  carried 
contraband  of  war  with  false  papers  if  she  were  encountered 

51 


52       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

on  the  return  voyage";  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
existence  of  a  blockade  "shall  be  presumed  to  be  known,"  and 
of  other  modifications  too  technical  to  be  stated.  Thereupon 
the  Department  of  State  bade  our  Ambassador  at  London, 
Mr.  Page,  announce  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
withdrew  its  suggestion,  and  that  it  "will  insist  that  the  rights 
and  duties  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens  in  the  present 
war  be  defined  by  the  existing  rules  of  international  law  and 
the  treaties  of  the  United  States  irrespective  of  the  provisions 
of  the  Declaration  of  London." 

Trade  between  neutral  countries  in  neutral  bottoms  was  now 
no  longer  regarded  as  presumably  innocent;  the  final  destina- 
tion of  the  cargo  determined  its  innocence;  the  accepted  list  of 
contraband  articles  was  greatly  extended,  and  our  vessels, 
seized  on  the  high  seas,  were  taken  into  port  for  examination 
and  often  detained  there  for  weeks  before  they  were  released. 
In  September  two  shipments  of  copper  to  Holland  were  seized 
because  the  final  destination  was  held  to  be  the  Krupp  Works 
at  Essen.  In  October  three  more  were  stopped  at  Gibraltar 
on  their  way  to  Italy  consigned  "to  order."  Italy  had  forbid- 
den the  export  of  copper  but  not  its  transit  through  the  coun- 
try. Next  came  the  seizure  of  three  tankers  owned  by  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  of  New  York.  These  three  were  the 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  which  cleared  from  New  York  in  Sep- 
tember for  Copenhagen,  and  was  taken  off  the  Orkneys  and 
ordered  to  Kirkwall;  the  Brindilla.,  seized  when  on  her  way  to 
Alexandria,  Egypt,  and  brought  into  Halifax;  and  the  Pla- 
iuria,  stopped  off  the  coast  of  Scotland  and  sent  to  Hornoway. 
The  Brindilla  and  Platuria,  when  the  war  opened,  were  the 
property  of  a  German  company,  one  of  the  subsidiaries  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  but  their  registry  had  been  changed 
and  when  captured  they  were  under  the  American  flag.  The 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  which  had  always  been  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag,  and  was  not  subject  to  any  question  which  might  arise 
from  the  change  of  registry  after  the  war  began,  was  there- 
fore made  the  subject  of  a  protest,  and  was  promptly  released. 
Demand  was  then  made  for  the  release  of  the  Brindilla;  the 
case  against  her  for  change  of  registry  was  dropped,  and,  by 
order  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,  the  British  Ambassador  explained 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  53 

the  position  of  his  Government.  During  the  last  few  weeks, 
he  said,  there  had  been  a  marked  increase  in  the  export  of  cer- 
tain articles  to  neutral  countries  adjacent  to  Germany.  Thus, 
while  the  value  of  the  chief  exports  from  the  United  States 
during  September,  1914,  as  compared  with  September,  1913, 
had  fallen  off  $107,000,000,  the  export  of  gasoline,  naphtha, 
etc.,  had  risen  from  20,000,000  to  23,000,000  gallons,  and  that 
of  fuel  oil  from  36,000,000  to  58,000,000.  A  large  part  of  the 
exports  had  been  consigned  to  neutral  countries  and  from  them 
had  been  sent  into  a  belligerent  country.  Desirous  not  to  be 
used  as  a  basis  for  hostilities  by  either  belligerent,  these  neutral 
countries  were  making  arrangements  which  would  prevent  the 
export  from  them  of  articles  which  might  be  used  for  war. 
When  completed  it  was  hoped  trade  between  neutrals  would  be 
subject  to  little  or  no  hindrance.  The  Rockefeller  had  been  de- 
tained for  examination  because  her  cargo  of  oil  was  going  to 
a  port  near  the  chief  naval  port  of  a  belligerent,  and  was  con- 
signed to  order.  There  was,  therefore,  no  guarantee  that  it 
would  not  be  forwarded  to  an  enemy. 

And  now  the  Kroonland,  of  the  Red  Star  Line,  with  pas- 
sengers, rubber  and  copper,  while  on  her  way  from  New  York 
to  Naples,  was  stopped  at  Gibraltar.  Her  destination,  Naples ; 
the  consignment  of  her  copper  "to  order";  and  the  fact  that 
Italy  had  not  prohibited  the  shipment  of  copper  by  land  to 
Austria  or  Germany  were  the  reasons  for  seizing  and  sending 
the  cargo  before  a  prize  court  to  decide  whether  it  was  or  was 
not  destined  for  Germany. 

November  2  the  Department  of  State  was  informed  that 
the  Plaiuria,  had  been  released.  That  same  day  the  British 
Admiralty  announced  that  the  whole  North  Sea  was  a  military 
area. 

For  some  weeks  past  the  Germans  had  been  sowing  mines  in 
the  waters  north  of  Ireland.  "Peaceful  merchant  ships,"  said 
the  British  Admiralty  in  their  order  of  November  2,  "have 
been  blown  up  by  this  agency.  The  White  Star  liner  Olympic 
escaped  disaster  through  pure  good  luck,  and,  but  for  warning 
given  by  British  cruisers,  other  British  and  neutral  passenger 
ships  would  have  been  destroyed."  These  mines  had  not  been 
laid  by  a  German  warship,  but  by  some  merchant  ship  flying  a 


54,       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

neutral  flag,  "which  came  along  the  trade  route  as  if  for  pur- 
poses of  peaceful  commerce,"  and  sowed  the  route  with  mines. 
"This  mine-laying  under  neutral  flags  and  reconnaissance  con- 
ducted by  trawlers,  hospital  ships  and  neutral  ships  are  ordi- 
nary features  of  German  naval  warfare."  Exceptional  meas- 
ures were  necessary  to  meet  this  novel  way  of  conducting  war  at 
sea.  The  Admiralty  therefore  gave  notice  "that  the  whole 
North  Sea  must  be  considered  a  military  zone."  Within  it 
merchant  shipping  of  every  kind,  traders  of  all  countries, 
fishing  craft,  vessels  of  every  sort,  were  exposed  to  destruction 
from  mines  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  lay,  and  from  war- 
ships "searching  vigilantly,  night  and  day,  suspicious  craft." 

After  November  5  all  vessels  "passing  a  line  drawn  from 
the  northern  point  of  the  Hebrides,  through  the  Faroe  Islands 
to  Iceland,  do  so  at  their  own  peril."  Ships  bound  for  Den- 
mark, Norway  and  Sweden  should  come  by  the  English  Chan- 
nel to  the  Strait  of  Dover  for  sailing  directions. 

Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden  and  the  Netherlands  promptly 
protested  to  Great  Britain  and  Germany  against  mine  sowing 
in  the  North  Sea  save  at  the  entrance  of  harbors,  and  were 
understood  to  intimate  a  hope  that  the  United  States  would 
take  part  in  a  joint  protest  against  mine  planting.  But  the 
Secretary  of  State  waited  until  the  close  of  the  year  and  then 
protested  against  the  whole  maritime  policy  of  Great  Britain, 
so  far  as  it  interfered  with  American  trade.  Instructions  to 
communicate  his  views  to  the  British  Government  were  cabled 
to  the  American  Ambassador  on  December  26;  but  the  com- 
munication was  not  made  public  until  the  last  day  of  the  year. 

It  was  needless,  Secretary  Bryan  said,  to  point  out  to  Great 
Britain,  usually  the  champion  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  that 
trade  between  neutrals  should  not  be  interfered  with  by  nations 
at  war  unless  absolutely  necessary  to  protect  their  safety  and 
even  then  only  so  far  as  was  absolutely  necessary.  But  the 
present  policy  of  his  Majesty's  Government  towards  neutral 
ships  and  cargoes  exceeded  the  manifest  necessity  of  a  bellig- 
erent and  imposed  on  the  rights  of  American  citizens  on  the 
high  seas,  restrictions  not  justified  by  international  law  or  the 
requirements  of  self-preservation.  "Articles  listed  as  absolute 
contraband,  shipped  from  the  United  States  and  consigned  to 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  55 

neutral  countries,"  had  been  seized  and  detained  because  the 
countries  to  which  they  were  destined  had  not  forbidden  the 
Export  of  such  articles. 

Detentions  of  this  kind  were  unwarranted  and  the  situation 
was  made  worse  by  the  indecision  of  the  authorities  in  applying 
their  own  rules.  A  cargo  of  copper  shipped  to  a  specified  con- 
signee in  Sweden  was  held  because  Sweden  had  placed  no  em- 
bargo on  copper.  Italy  had  not  only  prohibited  the  export  of 
copper,  but  had  forbidden  shipments  of  copper  to  Italian  con- 
signees or  "to  order"  to  be  exported  or  transshipped.  Yet  the 
British  Foreign  Office  had  declined  to  affirm  that  copper  con- 
Signed  to  Jtaly  would  not  be  molested.  Seizures,  thirty-one  con- 
signments amounting  to  19,350  tons,  worth  some  $5,500,000, 
had  by  that  time  been  made,  were  so  numerous  and  the  deten- 
tions so  long  that  steamship  lines  would  not  take  copper  to 
Italy,  insurance  companies  would  not  insure  it,  and  a  lawful 
trade  was  greatly  impaired  through  the  uncertainty  as  to  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  British  authorities. 

Foodstuffs  and  articles  of  common  use  in  all  countries  had 
been  stopped  despite  the  presumption  of  innocent  use  because 
destined  for  neutral  countries,  and  without  facts  which  war- 
ranted a  belief  that  the  shipments  had  a  really  belligerent  desti- 
nation. Mere  suspicion  was  not  evidence.  Nor  was  reimburse- 
ment for  interrupted  voyages  and  detained  cargoes  after  inves- 
tigation failed  to  discover  enemy  destination  sufficient.  The 
injury  was  to  American  commerce  diverted  from  neutral  coun- 
tries. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  readily  admitted  the 
right  of  a  belligerent  to  visit  and  search,  on  the  high  seas,  Amer- 
ican vessels  or  neutral  vessels  carrying  American  goods,  "when 
there  is  sufficient  evidence  to  justify  a  belief  that  contraband 
articles  are  in  their  cargoes."  But  it  could  not  permit,  without 
protest,  American  ships  or  cargoes  to  be  taken  into  British 
ports,  there  to  search  for  evidence  of  contraband. 

The  situation  brought  about  by  the  policy  of  Great  Britain 
was  "a  critical  one  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United 
States."  Great  industries  were  suffering  because  their  products 
were  denied  long  established  markets.  "Producers  and  export- 
ers, steamship  and  insurance  companies"  were  pressing,  and 


with  reason,  for  relief  "from  the  menace  to  transatlantic  trade," 
which  gradually  but  surely  was  ruining  their  business  and 
"threatening  financial  disaster." 

In  conclusion,  the  Secretary  wished  to  impress  upon  His 
Majesty's  Government  that  the  condition  of  trade  was  such  that 
if  it  did  not  improve  it  might  "arouse  a  feeling  contrary  to 
that  which  has  so  long  existed  between  the  American  and  Brit- 
ish people.  Already  it  is  becoming  the  subject  of  public  criti- 
cism and  complaint." 

The  reply  was  made  in  two  notes,  both  friendly  in  tone. 
The  first,  presented  on  January  7,  contained  "preliminary  ob- 
servations," for  Sir  Edward  Grey  saw  fit  to  postpone  to  a  later 
date  his  full  discussion  of  the  issues  raised  by  Secretary  Bryan. 
His  Majesty's  Government,  the  note  stated,  concurred  in  the 
principle  that  trade  between  neutrals  should  not  be  interfered 
with  by  belligerents  save  when  absolutely  necessary  to  protect 
their  safety;  and  that  Great  Britain  would  endeavor  to  keep 
within  the  limit,  but  claimed  the  right  to  interfere  with  trade 
in  contraband  destined  to  the  enemy's  country.  There  seemed 
to  be  much  misconception  as  to  the  extent  to  which  she  had  in- 
terfered. The  Secretary  seemed  to  hold  her  responsible  for 
the  present  state  of  trade  with  neutral  countries.  But  such 
statistics  of  the  export  trade  from  New  York  as  were  at  hand 
gave  proof  that  the  exports  to  Denmark  in'  November,  1913, 
amounted  to  $558,000  and  in  1914  to  $7,101,000;  to  Sweden 
$377,000  in  November,  1913,  and  $2,558,000  in  November, 
1914;  to  Norway  $477,000  in  1913  and  $2,318,000  in  1914; 
and  to  Italy  in  November,  1913,  $2,971,000  and  $4,781,000  in 
the  same  month  in  1914. 

It  was  true  there  had  been  a  falling  off  in  the  export  of  cot- 
ton ;  but  Great  Britain  had  not  interfered  with  cotton.  It  was 
still  on  the  free  list.  The  adverse  effect  of  the  war  on  that  and 
other  industries  Was  due  to  the  diminished  purchasing  power 
of  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain. 

The  Secretary  had  referred  to  the  detention  of  copper.  Ex- 
ports of  copper  from  the  United  States  to  Italy  during  the 
months  of  August,  September,  October,  November,  and  the  first 
three  weeks  of  December,  1913,  amounted  to  15,202,000 
pounds;  for  the  same  period  in  1914  to  35,285,000  pounds. 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  57 

To  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Switzerland  during  this 
period  in  1913  there  went  7,271,000  pounds  of  copper,  and  in 
1914  during  a  like  period  35,347,000  pounds  of  copper.  From 
such  shipments  it  must  be  presumed  that  the  bulk  of  the  copper 
recently  sent  to  these  countries  was  intended  not  for  their  own 
use,  but  for  a  belligerent  who  could  not  import  it  direct.  There 
was  in  possession  of  his  Majesty's  Government  positive  evidence 
to  show  that  four  shipments  of  copper  and  aluminum  definitely 
consigned  to  Sweden  were  really  destined  for  Germany. 

Foodstuffs  ought  not  to  be  detained  and  put  into  prize  courts 
without  presumption  that  they  are  for  the  use  of  the  armed 
forces  of  the  enemy  or  the  enemy  Government.  From  August 
4,  1914,  to  January  3,  1915,  the  number  of  ships  going  from 
the  United  States  to  Holland,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden  and 
Italy  was  773.  Of  them  but  45  had  consignments  or  cargoes 
put  in  the  Prize  Courts,  and  of  the  ships  only  eight  were  held, 
one  of  which  had  been  released.  Under  modern  conditions  it 
was  necessary  that  the  ship  be  brought  into  port  for  examina- 
tion. In  no  other  way  could  the  right  of  search  be  exercised. 
Rubber  had  been  shipped  from  the  United  States  under  an- 
other name  to  escape  notice.  Cotton  had  not  been  put  on  the 
list  of  contraband.  Precisely  for  this  reason  ships  carrying 
cotton  bales  had  been  selected  to  carry  concealed  contraband. 
No  ships  had  so  far  been  detained  for  carrying  cotton;  but 
should  his  Majesty's  Government  have  reason  to  believe  that  in 
the  case  of  a  particular  ship  the  bales  of  cotton  contained  cop- 
per or  other  contraband,  the  only  way  to  prove  it  was  to  weigh 
and  examine  the  bales,  a  process  that  could  only  be  carried  out 
by  bringing  the  vessel  into  port. 

We  are  confronted  with  the  growing  danger  that  neutral  coun- 
tries contiguous  to  the  enemy  will  become  on  a  scale  hitherto  unprece- 
dented a  base  of  supplies  for  the  armed  forces  of  our  enemies  and 
for  materials  for  manufacturing  armament.  The  trade  figures  of 
imports  show  how  strong  this  tendency  is,  but  we  have  no  complaint 
to  make  of  the  attitude  of  the  Governments  of  those  countries  which 
so  far  as  we  are  aware  have  not  departed  from  proper  rules  of  neu- 
trality. We  endeavor  in  the  interest  of  our  own  national  safety  to 
prevent  this  danger  by  intercepting  goods  really  destined  for  the 
enemy,  without  interfering  with  those  which  are  for  bona  fide 
neutrals. 


58      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

To  our  countrymen  the  note  was  far  from  satisfactory.  The 
citation  of  statistics  to  show  the  large  increase  in  our  ship- 
ments to  neutral  nations  was  thought  not  to  the  point  and  mis- 
leading. These  increases,  it  was  said,  were  due  to  the  rise  in 
price  of  American  goods  and  to  the  inability  of  neutrals  to  get 
supplies  from  belligerent  countries  near  them.  Unable  to  get 
copper  from  Germany  and  Austria,  Italy  had  turned  to  us. 
Unable  to  get  wheat  from  Bulgaria  and  Rumania,  Italy  had 
been  forced  to  buy  in  the  United  States.  Ever  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  the  United  States  has  sought  to  obtain  the 
reasons  for  the  detention  of  our  ships  and  has  asked  in  vain. 
The  Government  knows  only  from  shippers  and  exporters  that 
scores  of  ships  have  been  detained.  A  press  dispatch  from 
Copenhagen  to  the  London  News  reported  that  M.  Scavenius, 
the  Danish  Foreign  Minister,  had  declared  that  the  increase 
in  exports  from  the  United  States  to  Denmark  from  $600,000 
in  1913  to  $7,000,000  in  1914  was  because  Denmark's  normal 
sources  of  supply  were  cut  off  by  the  war. 

The  British  Embassy  now  issued  a  statement  on  the  deten- 
tion of  our  ships.  Jt  could  not  give  a  pledge  that  all  ships 
then  in  prize  courts  would  be  released  on  bail,  because  the 
decision  in  each  case  must  rest  with  the  Judge.  But  His 
Majesty's  Government  was  anxious  to  relieve  the  shortage  in 
tonnage  and  would  not  therefore  oppose  release  on  bail  of  ships 
then  in  prize  courts  if  bail  were  offered.  Only  seven  vessels 
were  then  in  prize  courts,  and  but  five  were  detained  for  exam- 
ination of  the  character  of  their  cargoes.  No  one  of  these  was 
under  the  American  flag. 

Besides  the  cases  of  ships  seized  and  detained,  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  had  before  it  the  cases  of  two  ships  sure  to  be 
seized.  At  the  opening  of  the  war  the  Hamburg- American  Line 
steamship  Dacia  was  interned  at  Port  Arthur,  Texas.  Early  in 
January  she  was  bought  by  Mr.  E.  N.  Breitung,  of  Mar- 
quette,  Michigan,  and  given  an  American  registry ;  the  German 
captain  and  crew  were  replaced  by  Americans,  and  orders  is- 
sued to  load  her  with  cotton  at  Galveston  and  clear  for  Bremen. 
The  question  then  was,  Will  Great  Britain  and  France  recog- 
nize this  transfer  of  a  German  ship  to  the  American  flag  dur- 
ing war  time  ?  France  had  held  that  even  a  bona  fide  sale  could 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  59 

not  be  recognized  so  long  as  the  purpose  of  the  sale  was  to  .evade 
capture.  A  vessel  so  sold  might  be  seized  by  a  belligerent. 

Reports  from  London  left  no  doubt  tjbat  she  would  be 
seized  by  the  British  because  it  was  unfair  that  a  vessel  be- 
longing to  a  belligerent  should  be  transferred  to  a  neutral  flag 
that  she  might  escape  capture.  Reports  from  Washington  an- 
nounced that  the  Department  of  State  had  proposed  that  the 
destination  of  the  Dacia  be  changed  to  the  neutral  port  of  Rot- 
terdam ;  that  she  be  allowed  to  make  the  voyage  there  and  back 
unmolested;  and  that  the  larger  question  of  the  legality  of  the 
transfer  be  left  for  future  consideration.  It  might  well  be 
that  the  purchase  was  a  test  of  the  feasibility  of  the  sale  to 
Americans  of  all  the  German  vessels  interned  in  our  ports. 
The  Government  of  Great  Britain  replied  with  a  refusal  of  safe 
conduct.  It  was  loath  to  cause  loss  to  the  shippers  of  the 
cargo,  but  could  not  agree  that  the  transfer  was  valid  in  inter- 
national law.  "If,  therefore,  the  Dacia  should  proceed  to  sea 
and  should  be  captured,  the  British  Government  will  find  them- 
selves obliged  to  bring  the  ship  (apart  from  the  cargo)  before 
the  prize  court."  As  to  the  cargo,  if  it  were  solely  owned  by 
American  citizens,  the  British  Government  would  either  buy 
it  "at  the  price  which  would  have  been  realized  by  the  ship- 
pers if  the  cargo  had  reached  its  foreign  destination,"  or  would 
forward  the  cotton  to  Rotterdam  without  cost  to  the  shippers. 

The  Berlin  Vossische  Zeitung  held  it  was  clear  that  there 
must  be  cases  in  which  ships  of  belligerents  may  be  transferred 
to  a  neutral  flag,  without  any  suggestion  that  it  was  done  to 
escape  capture.  The  Dacia  was  such  a  case.  The  Hamburg- 
American  Line  did  not  dream  of  transferring  its  fleet  or  any 
part  of  it  to  the  American  flag.  There  was  in  the  United  States 
a  demand  for  ships  to  carry  freight.  An  offer  was  made  for 
the  Dacia  and  the  owners  sold  her. 

A  Paris  journal  thought  the  Germans  were  seeking  to  put 
Anglo-American  relations  to  the  test;  to  give  aid  to  those  who 
in  America  were  leading  the  attack  on  Great  Britain  in  the 
name  of  American  commerce,  and  to  save  those  vessels  interned 
in  our  ports. 

While  the  Dacia  was  preparing  to  sail  from  Galveston,  the 
American  steamship  Wilhelmina,  loaded  with  flour,  grain  and 


60       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

foodstuffs,  cleared  from  New  York  for  Hamburg.  She  had 
been  chartered  from  the  Southern  Products  Company  by  a  firm 
in  St.  Louis,  and  the  cargo  consigned  to  a  branch  of  the  firm 
in  Hamburg.  The  food  was  for  the  use  of  civilians  in  Ger- 
many. No  shipment  of  food  from  our  country  to  Germany 
had  been  made  since  the  war  began.  By  many  this  shipment 
was  looked  on  as  a  test  case,  as  an  attempt  to  determine  whether 
or  not  the  British  Government  would  stop  American  vessels 
on  their  way  to  German  ports  with  food  for  the  use  of  civilians 
solely. 

If  the  British  Government  had  any  doubts  as  to  what  it 
should  do  they  were  quickly  removed  by  the  action  of  Ger- 
many. The  Wilhelmina  sailed  on  the  twenty-second  of  January 
and  on  the  twenty-sixth  the  Federal  Council  at  Berlin  issued 
.an  order  for  the  conservation  of  food. 

All  stocks  of  corn,  wheat  and  flour  are  ordered  seized  by  Febru- 
ary 1. 

All  business  transactions  in  these  commodities  are  forbidden  from 
January  26. 

All  municipalities  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  setting  aside  suit- 
able supplies  of  preserved  meat. 

The  owners  of  corn  are  ordered  to  report  their  stocks  immedi- 
ately, whereupon  confiscation  at  a  fixed  price  will  follow. 

A  Government  distributing  office  for  the  negotiation  of  consump- 
tion will  be  established,  distribution  being  made  according  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants. 

The  Imperial  Gazette  explained  that  such  action  was  neces- 
sary in  order  that  there  might  be  a  regular  and  sufficient  sup- 
ply of  breadstuffs  to  last  "until  the  next  threshing  of  the  new 
harvest,"  and  that  the  order  gave  assurance  that  ''our  enemy's 
plan  to  starve  Germany  will  be  upset,  and  assures  us  of  plenti- 
ful bread  until  next  harvest." 

As  soon  as  the  order  was  made  known  in  our  country  the 
German  Ambassador  made  haste  to  give  verbal  notice  to  the 
Department  of  State  that  no  foodstuffs  from  the  United  States 
to  Germany  would  be  seized  for  military  or  governmental  use. 

The  German  Vice  Chancellor  took  pains  to  explain  that  the 
designation  of  regions  wherein  imported  grains  could  be  sold 
only  to  municipalities  had  been  revoked  by  the  Bundesrath. 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  61 

The  Bundesrath  regulations  for  dealing  in  grain,  lie  said,  did 
not  contemplate  the  seizure  of  grain  for  the  use  of  the  Govern- 
ment or  the  army,  but  merely  its  equitable  distribution  for  pri- 
vate use.  It  was  a  measure  of  protection  of  the  individual 
against  speculation.  Paragraph  forty-five  of  the  regulations,  he 
pointed  out,  read:  "The  stipulations  of  this  regulation  do  not 
apply  to  grain  or  flour  imported  from  abroad  after  January 
31."  The  German  Government  "had  also  declared  its  readi- 
ness to  deliver  trade  in  such  imported  products  to  American 
organizations  for  the  duration  of  the  war." 

All  this  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  had  officially  stated  a 
few  days  before  in  a  note. 

The  decision  of  the  Federal  Council  concerning  foodstuffs, 
which  England  had  assigned  as  her  reason  for  declaring  con- 
traband food  products  going  to  Germany,  related  solely  to  wheat, 
rye,  both  mixed  and  unmixed  with  other  products,  and  to 
wheat,  rye,  oats  and  barley  flour.  The  Federal  Council  again 
in  Section  45  had  expressly  provided  that  "The  stipulations 
of  this  regulation  do  not  apply  to  grain  or  flour  imported  from 
abroad  after  January  31."  The  Federal  Council's  order  pro- 
vided that  imported  cereals  and  flours  could  be  sold  exclusively 
to  certain  municipalities  and  specially  designated  organizations. 
This  was  to  throw  imported  grains  and  flour  into  such  channels 
as  supplied  the  civilian,  and  protect  them  against  speculators 
and  engrossers.  Nevertheless  this  provision  had  been  rescinded 
so  as  to  leave  no  room  for  doubt.  The  German  Government 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  municipalities  do  not  form  part 
of,  or  belong  to,  the  Government,  but  are  self-administrative 
bodies,  elected  by  the  people  of  the  commune.  The  German 
Government  was  amenable  to  any  proposition  looking  to  con- 
trol of  the  cargoes  by  a  special  American  organization  under 
consular  offices.  That  imported  food  products  would  be  con- 
sumed by  civilians  exclusively  the  Government  gave  absolute  as- 
surance. England  therefore  had  no  excuse  for  stopping  Amer- 
ican food  products  on  their  way  to  Germany. 

Meantime,  lest  the  cargo  of  the  Wilhelmina  should  fall 
under  the  German  order  and  become  liable  to  seizure  by  Great 
Britain,  attorneys  for  the  shipping  company  applied  to  Am- 


62 

bassador  von  Bernstorff  for  a  guarantee  that  the  food  would  not 
be  taken  for  military  purposes.     The  Ambassador  replied : 

I,  as  representative  of  the  German  Government,  guarantee  to  you 
that  the  foodstuffs  will  not  reach  the  German  Government,  its  agents 
or  contractors,  nor  the  military  and  naval  forces.  I  will,  further, 
take  the  necessary  steps  which  will  insure  that  the  German  Govern- 
ment will  not  make  use  of  its  right  of  preemption. 

The  order  was  intended  to  prevent  the  cornering,  and  specu- 
lation in  foodstuffs  in  Germany,  and  did  not  "affect  foodstuffs 
imported  from  neutral  countries  and  exclusively  for  noncom- 
batants." 

Despite  these  assurances,  the  British  Foreign  Office  on  Feb- 
ruary 4  announced  that  if  the  destination  of  the  cargo  of  the 
Wilhelmina  was  Germany,  and  the  vessel  were  intercepted,  its 
cargo  would  be  put  in  prize  court  that  the  situation  created  by 
Germany  might  be  examined.  No  proceedings  would  be  taken 
against  the  ship.  Her  owners  would  be  indemnified  for  delay 
and  the  owners  of  the  cargo  paid  for  any 'loss  caused  by  the 
action  of  the  British  authorities.  It  was  quite  clear  that  the 
Germans  did  not  intend  to  capture  merchant  vessels  and  bring 
them  into  port  but  sink  them  by  submarines,  regardless  of  the 
lives  of  the  crews  and  civilians  on  board.  Even  hospital  ships 
would  not  be  spared.  This  raised  the  question  whether  more 
stringent  measures  should  be  adopted  against  German  trade. 
But  care  would  be  taken  not  to  inflict  loss  on  neutral  ships 
which  sailed  before  warning  had  been  given. 

January  31  the  Dacia  sailed  from  Galveston,  and  Febru- 
ary 2  Ambassador  Page  telegraphed  from  London  that  the 
British  fleet  had  been  ordered  to  treat  as  conditional  contraband 
subject  to  seizure,  all  cargoes  of  grain  and  flour  destined  for 
Germany.  The  Wilhelmina  having  sailed  before  the  German 
Federal  Council  issued  its  order,  an  exception  would  be  made 
in  her  case.  She  would  be  released  but  the  cargo  would  be 
taken  and  paid  for  at  invoice  price. 

That  same  day  Mr.  Page  sent  information  far  more  im- 
portant. The  German  Admiralty,  he  reported,  had  warned  all 
merchantmen  not  to  approach  the  north  and  west  coasts  of 
France,  and  cautioned  all  bound  for  the  North  Sea  to  go  north 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  63 

around  Scotland.  Two  days  later  the  German  War  Zone  order 
mentioned  by  Mr.  Page  was  made  public.  The  waters  around 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  including  the  whole  of  the  English 
Channel,  were  declared  a  war  zone  from  and  after  February 
18.  Every  enemy  merchant  ship  found  therein  would  be  de- 
stroyed even  if  it  were  impossible  to  save  the  passengers  and 
crew.  Neutral  ships  would  also  be  in  danger,  because  of  the 
misuse  of  neutral  flags  ordered  by  the  British  Admiralty  on 
January  31,  and  because  of  "the  hazards  of  naval  warfare, 
neutral  vessels  cannot  always  be  prevented  from  suffering  from 
the  attacks  meant  for  enemy  ships."  The  routes  of  navigation 
around  the  north  of  the  Shetland  Islands,  "in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  North  Sea,  and  in  a  strip  of  at  least  thirty  nautical  miles 
along  the  Dutch  coast,"  were  "in  no  danger." 

This  order,  it  was  pointed  out,  was  not  only  extraordinary 
but  without  precedent,  and  was  either  an  empty  threat  or  a 
war  against  humanity.  All  nations  had  an  equal  right  to  the 
sea.  Belligerents  might  search  a  neutral  ship  for  goods  contra- 
band of  war,  might  shut  it  out  of  a  port  by  blockade  in  force, 
but  could  do  nothing  more.  But  Germany  had  done  more  than 
violate  international  law  by  declaring  the  waters  around  the 
British  Isles  a  war  zone.  She  had  announced  that  every  enemy 
merchant  ship  found  in  the  zone  would  be  sunk  without  regard 
for  the  lives  of  crew  and  passengers.  One  of  the  first  duties  of 
a  captor  of  a  merchant  ship  is  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  non- 
combatants  on  board.  Germany  had  asserted  that  British  ships 
had  misused  neutral  flags  and  because  of  this  a  neutral  flag 
would  afford  no  protection  if.  there  were  the  least  suspicion  of 
its  genuineness,  but  commanders  of  German  submarines  might, 
if  they  wished,  sink  every  merchant  ship  they  captured. 

A  memorandum  issued  by  the  German  Government  ex- 
plained the  necessity  of  the  war  zone. 

The  writer  began  with  a  long  statement  of  grievances 
against  Great  Britain.  Her  conduct  of  commercial  warfare 
had  been  a  mockery  of  all  principles  of  the  law  of  nations.  She 
had  declared  her  naval  forces  should  be  guided  by  the  stipula- 
tions of  the  Declaration  of  London  and  had  then  repudiated 
them  in  the  most  essential  points;  had  put  on  the  list  of  con- 
traband articles  not  at  all,  or  only  indirectly,  capable  of  use  in 


64       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

war ;  had  abolished  all  distinction  between  conditional  and  abso- 
lute contraband  by  confiscating  articles  of  conditional  contra- 
band destined  for  Germany  no  matter  what  the  port  of  desti- 
nation, and  no  matter  whether  they  were  or  were  not  for  uses 
of  war  or  peace;  had  taken  from  neutral  ships  German  sub- 
jects capable  of  bearing  arms;  had  declared  the  whole  North 
Sea  the  seat  of  war  and  so  in  a  way  blockaded  neutral  ports 
and  coasts,  and  had  done  these  things  not  only  to  strike  at 
German  military  operations,  but  to  deliver  over  the  whole 
German  people  to  famine. 

The  writer  then  complained  of  the  conduct  of  neutrals, 
charging  them  with,  in  the  main,  acquiescing  in  the  measures 
of  Great  Britain ;  with  failure  to  secure  the  release  of  German 
subjects  and  goods  taken  from  their  vessels;  with  aiding  Great 
Britain  in  her  defiance  of  the  principle  of  the  open  sea  by  for- 
bidding the  export  and  transit  of  goods  destined  for  peaceful 
uses  in  Germany. 

Because  of  these  things  Germany  found  it  necessary  to  re- 
taliate. "Just  as  England  declared  the  whole  North  Sea  be- 
tween Scotland  and  Norway  to  be  comprised  within  the  seat  of 
war,  so  does  Germany  now  declare  the  waters  surrounding  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  including  the  whole  English  Channel,  to 
be  comprised  within  the  seat  of  war,  and  will  prevent  by  all 
the  military  means  at  its  disposal  all  navigation  by  the  enemy 
in  those  waters.  To  this  end  it  will  endeavor  to  destroy,  after 
February  18  next,  any  merchant  vessels  of  the  enemy  which 
present  themselves  at  the  seat  of  war  above  indicated,  although 
it  may  not  always  be  possible  to  avert  the  dangers  which  may 
menace  persons  and  merchandise."  Neutral  powers  were  there- 
fore "forewarned  not  to  continue  to  entrust  their  crews,  passen- 
gers, or  merchandise  to  such  vessels."  To  "recommend  their 
own  vessels  to  steer  clear  of  these  waters" ;  for  in  view  of  the 
"hazards  of  war,  and  of  the  misuse  of  the  neutral  flag  ordered 
by  the  British  Government,  it  will  not  always  be  possible  to 
prevent  a  neutral  vessel  from  becoming  the  victim  of  an  attack 
intended  to  be  directed  against  a  vessel  of  the  enemy."  It  is 
expressly  declared  "that  navigation  in  the  waters  north  of  the 
Shetland  Islands  is  outside  the  danger  zone,  as  well  as  naviga- 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  65 

tion  in  the  Eastern  part  of  the  North  Sea  and  in  a  zone  thirty 
marine  miles  wide  along  the  Dutch  coast." 

While  Germany  was  charging  Great  Britain  with  seizing 
her  subjects  and  goods  found  on  neutral  ships  and  complain- 
ing that  neutrals  tamely  submitted,  she  was  busy  sinking  neutral 
vessels  by  means  of  mines  and  submarines.  Between  August 
8,  1914,  and  February  4,  1915,  the  dates  of  her  war  zone  order 
and  her  memorandum,  she  had  destroyed  in  these  ways,  nine 
Dutch,  ten  Swedish,  nine  Norwegian,  and  eight  Danish,  in  all 
thirty-six  neutral  vessels.  Great  Britain  had  not  sunk  one. 

In  the  war  zone  proclamation  was  a  charge  of  "misuse  of 
neutral  flags  ordered  on  January  31,  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment." Germany  in  her  Prize  Ordinance  August  3,  1914, 
authorized  her  ships  of  war  to  fly  a  neutral  flag  for  the  purpose 
of  making  an  attack.  If  it  were  permissible  for  a  ship  of  war 
to  use  such  a  flag  to  make  an  attack  it  was  equally  allowable 
for  a  merchantman  to  use  it  to  avoid  attack.  The  cause  of  the 
complaint  was  the  action  of  the  captain  of  the  Orduna,  who  on 
January  31,  out  from  Queenstown,  raised  the  American  flag. 

A  statement  issued  on  February  7  from  the  British  Foreign 
Office  defended  the  act.  Within  certain  limits,  it  was  held,  the 
use  of  a  neutral  flag  was  a  well  established  ruse  of  war.  The 
object,  in  the  case  of  a  merchantman,  was  to  force  the  enemy 
to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  nationality  of  the  vessel  and  cargo 
by  an  examination  before  capture.  The  British  Government 
had  always  considered  the  use  of  British  colors  by  foreign  ves- 
sels to  enable  them  to  escape  capture  as  no  breach  of  interna- 
tional law.  Therefore  it  held  that  the  use  of  a  foreign  flag  by  a 
British  merchantman  in  order  to  escape  capture  was  no  breach 
of  international  law. 

Germany  was  bound  to  ascertain  the  character  of  a  mer- 
chant vessel  and  cargo  before  capture.  To  destroy  ship,  non- 
combatant  crew  and  cargo,  as  she  had  declared  her  intention 
of  doing,  was  nothing  less  than  an  act  of  piracy  on  the  high 
seas. 

With  this  statement  from  the  Foreign  Office  there  came 
from  London  a  report  that  on  Saturday  morning,  February  6, 
when  the  Lusitania  was  off  the  coast  of  Ireland  her  captain  re- 
ceived from  the  Admiralty  a  wireless  message  ordering  him  to 


hoist  the  American  flag  and  sail  under  it  to  Liverpool.  For 
this  act  the  Americans  on  board  were  truly  grateful ;  but  if  the 
Admiralty  did  send  forth  such  an  order  responsibility  was 
shifted  from  the  Cunard  Company  to  the  British  Government 
and  trouble  was  likely  to  arise. 

Our  Government  acted  promptly  and  February  10  addressed 
notes  to  Germany  and  Great  Britain.  That  to  Germany  began 
by  calling  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  Government  to  the 
"serious  possibilities  of  the  course  of  action  apparently  con- 
templated under  the  'war  zone  proclamation/  "  and  requesting 
it  "to  consider,  before  action  is  taken,  the  critical  situation  in 
respect  of  the  relations  between  this  country  and  Germany, 
which  might  arise  were  the  German  naval  forces  in  carrying  out 
the  policy  foreshadowed  in  the  Admiralty's  proclamation  to  de- 
stroy any  merchant  vessel  of  the  United  States  or  cause  the 
death  of  American  citizens."  To  attack  and  destroy  any  vessel 
entering  a  prescribed  zone  without  first  determining  the  bel- 
ligerent character  of  the  vessel  and  the  contraband  character 
of  its  cargo  would  be  an  act  so  unprecedented  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  was  loath  to  believe  the  Imperial 
Government  "contemplates  it  as  possible." 

Suspicion  that  enemy  ships  were  using  neutral  flags  im- 
properly created  no  just  presumption  that  all  ships  crossing  a 
prescribed  area  were  subject  to  the  same  suspicion.  Should 
the  commanders  of  German  vessels  of  war  act  on  the  presump- 
tion that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  not  being  used  in 
good  faith,  "and  destroy  on  the  high  seas  an  American  vessel, 
or  the  lives  of  American  citizens,  it  would  be  difficult  for  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  view  the  act  in  any  other 
light  than  as  an  indefensible  violation  of  neutral  rights  which  it 
would  be  very  hard  indeed  to  reconcile  with  the  friendly  rela- 
tions now  so  happily  subsisting  between  the  two  governments." 

The  Imperial  German  Government  would  readily  appre- 
ciate "that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would  be  com- 
pelled to  hold  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  a  strict 
accountability  for  such  acts  of  their  naval  authorities  and  to 
take  any  steps  it  might  be  necessary  to  safeguard  American 
lives  and  property  and  to  secure  to  American  citizens  the  full 
enjoyment  of  their  acknowledged  rights  on  the  high  seas." 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  67 

The  note  to  Great  Britain  opened  with  the  statement  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  been  advised  by  the 
declaration  of  the  German  Admiralty  on  February  4,  that  the 
use  of  neutral  flags  by  British  vessels  for  the  purpose  of  avoid- 
ing recognition  had  been  explicitly  authorized  by  the  British 
Government.  Reports  had  been  seen  in  the  newspapers  that  the 
captain  of  the  Lusitania,  acting  under  orders  from  British 
authorities,  had  raised  the  American  flag  as  his  vessel  ap- 
proached the  coast,  and  from  "an  alleged  official  statement  of 
the  Foreign  Office,"  it  appeared  that  the  use  of  a  neutral  flag  by 
a  belligerent  to  escape  capture  or  attack,  had  been  defended. 

Supposing  these  reports  to  be  true  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  reserved  the  consideration  of  the  legality  and 
propriety  of  such  use  of  a  neutral  flag  for  future  considera- 
tion. But  it  desired  "very  respectfully  to  point  out  to  His 
Britannic  Majesty's  Government  the  serious  consequences  which 
may  result  to  American  vessels  and  American  citizens  if  this 
practice  is  continued."  The  occasional  use  of  a  neutral  flag  un- 
der stress  of  pursuit,  was  a  very  different  thing  from  an  explicit 
sanction  by  a  belligerent  government  for  the  use  of  such  a  flag  by 
its  merchant  vessels  within  certain  areas  of  the  high  seas  pre- 
sumed to  be  frequented  by  hostile  warships.  Because  of  the 
avowed  "purpose  of  the  German  Admiralty  to  engage  in  active 
naval  operations  in  certain  delimited  sea  areas  adjacent  to  the 
coasts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  would  view  with  anxious  solicitude  any  general 
use  of  our  flag  "by  British  vessels  traversing  those  waters,"  be- 
cause "such  practice  would  greatly  endanger  the  vessels  of  a 
friendly  power  navigating  those  waters,  and  would  even  seem  to 
impose  upon  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  a  measure  of 
responsibility  for  the  loss  of  American  lives  and  vessels  in  case 
of  an  attack  by  a  German  naval  force." 

It  was  understood,  was  the  reply  of  Great  Britain,  Febru- 
ary 16,  1915,  that  the  German  Government  had  ordered  the 
sinking  of  British  merchantmen  at  sight  by  torpedoes,  without 
making  any  provision  for  saving  the  lives  of  noncombatant 
crews  and  passengers.  It  was  because  of  this  threat  that  the 
Lusitania  raised  the  American  flag  on  her  inward  voyage.  On 
her  next  outward  voyage,  American  passengers  who  were  em- 


68       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

barking  asked  that  the  American  flag  be  raised,  to  insure  their 
safety.  His  Majesty's  Government  did  not  advise  the  com- 
pany how  to  meet  this  request,  and  believed  the  vessel  left 
Liverpool  under  the  British  flag. 

As  to  the  use  of  foreign  colors  by  British  merchantmen,  the 
British  merchant  shipping  act  permitted  it  in  times  of  war 
in  order  to  escape  capture.  When  a  neutral  Great  Britain  al- 
ways accorded  to  vessels  of  other  states  the  use  of  the  British 
flag  as  a  means  of  protection  against  capture.  The  United 
States  had  so  used  it  during  the  Civil  War.  It  would  therefore 
be  unfair,  now  that  conditions  were  reversed,  for  the  United 
States  and  other  neutrals  to  grudge  Great  Britain  the  liberty 
to  take  similar  action.  The  duty  of  a  belligerent  was  to  ascer- 
tain definitely  for  itself  the  nationality  of  a  merchant  vessel 
before  capturing,  sinking  or  destroying  it.  If  that  obligation 
were  fulfilled  the  hoisting  of  a  neutral  flag  on  board  a  British 
merchantman  could  not  possibly  endanger  neutral  shipping.  If 
loss  were  suffered  because  of  disregard  of  this  principle,  it  was 
on  the  enemy  vessel  disregarding  it,  and  on  the  Government 
ordering  that  it  be  disregarded,  that  the  sole  responsibility  for 
the  injury  ought  to  rest. 

Well  aware  that  neutral  flags  would  not  be  respected  by 
German  submarine  commanders,  owners  of  neutral  vessels  about 
to  sail  from  New  York  had  the  names  of  their  ships  painted  in 
huge  letters  on  the  sides  as  a  means  of  identification.  In  many 
cases  the  flag  of  the  neutral  country  to  which  the  ship  belonged 
was  added. 

Both  notes  were  heartily  approved  by  our  people.  The 
President,  it  was  said,  has  again  shown  that  the  interests  of  the 
country  are  safe  in  his  hands.  His  position  is  sound  in  law 
and  correct  in  form.  There  is  no  jingoism  in  the  note,  no 
bluster,  but  a  firm  and  temperate  statement  of  what  is  in  the 
minds  of  the  American  people.  No  belligerent  has  the  right, 
and  none  has  hitherto  claimed  the  right,  to  sink  unarmed  mer- 
chantmen without  warning.  Does  Germany  intend  to  adopt 
this  policy?  Instead  of  announcing  a  purpose  to  search  and 
seize  vessels  carrying  contraband  goods,  the  German  Foreign 
Office  makes  a  thinly  veiled  threat  of  lynch  law  against  neutrals. 
There  is  more  than  a  warning  in  a  clearly  defined  war  zone. 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  69 

It  is  a  threat  that  neutral  vessels  may  be  "accidentally"  tor- 
pedoed instead  of  being  overhauled  and  searched  by  German 
submarines. 

The  notes  to  Great  Britain  and  Germany  make  it  clear  to 
the  belligerents  that  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  is  to 
continue  fearlessly  impartial.  The  subject  is  not  one  permit- 
ting delicacy  of  treatment.  If  the  language  used  in  the  protest 
to  Germany  is  vigorously  plain  it  is  none  the  less  a  friendly 
warning.  Germany,  said  the  New  York  Staats-Z eitung ',  will 
undoubtedly  take  the  note  in  good  part.  "She  will  undoubtedly 
overlook  the  insult  which  it  contains.  The  American  people 
cannot.  We  stand  to-day  a  nation  in  danger.  We  are  ruled  by 
a  man  and  not  by  a  Congress." 

By  the  British  press  the  flag  note  was  held  to  be  fair.  No 
exception  could  be  taken  to  the  tone  in  which  it  was  couched. 
It  would  not  be  difficult  to  satisfy  the  United  States  that  in 
using  her  flag  to  defeat  the  intentions  of  the  German  warships 
to  torpedo  merchantmen  without  warning,  Great  Britain  was 
acting  in  the  interests  of  humanity  and  civilization.  It  was 
quite  natural  that  the  United  States  should  view  with  anxiety 
any  general  use  of  the  American  flag  by  British  vessels  crossing 
the  waters  barred  by  Germany.  But  no  claim  to  make  such 
general  use  of  any  neutral  flag  has  yet  been  advanced.  The 
utmost  the  Foreign  Office  claimed  was  the  right  of  a  British 
vessel  when  escaping  from  attack  to  fly  a  neutral  flag  as  a 
ruse  de  guerre.  To  promise  that  under  no  circumstances  shall 
a  British  vessel  hoist  the  Stars  and  Stripes  is  more  than  the 
President  asks  and  more  than  our  Government  could  grant. 
But  we  could  readily  agree  to  limit  its  use  to  cases  of  real 
necessity. 

When  something  does  not  suit  the  Yankees,  said  the  Berlin 
Post,  they  adopt  as  threatening  and  saber-rattling  a  tone  as  pos- 
sible. They  think  the  person  thus  threatened  will  be  fright- 
ened, and  yield.  If  he  does  not,  if  he  pays  no  attention  and 
is  not  scared,  the  swaggering  Yankees  soon  quiet  down.  The 
Hamburger  Nachrichten  thought  the  threatening  sentences  in 
the  American  note  quite  unimpressive. 

Just  at  this  time,  on  February  13,  the  Lusitania  sailed  from 
Liverpool  for  New  York.  When  about  to  depart  her  Captain 


70       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

announced  that  if  necessary  he  would  again  fly  the  American 
flag.  Most  of  her  passengers  were  Americans.  They  were 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  their  flag,  and  so,  if  the  German 
pirates  sank  the  ship,  the  Americans  should  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  dying  under  their  own  national  emblem. 

On  February  16  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  delivered  a 
note  by  way  of  a  preliminary  answer  to  the  note  of  the  United 
States.  From  sources  absolutely  reliable,  the  note  said,  it  was 
known  that  British  merchant  ships  intended  to  oppose  armed 
resistance  to  German  men-of-war  in  the  area  declared  a  war 
zone  by  Germany.  Many  were  already  armed  and  all  were  to 
be  speedily.  They  were  instructed  to  sail  in  small  fleets,  and 
to  ram  the  German  submarine  while  the  examination  was  under 
way  or  if  the  submarine  lay  alongside  drop  bombs  or  over- 
power the  examining  party  as  it  came  on  board.  A  large 
reward  had  been  offered  for  the  destruction  of  the  first  Ger- 
man submarine  by  a  British  merchantman.  Therefore,  British 
merchant  vessels  could  no  longer  be  considered  as  undefended, 
but  might  be  attacked  without  warning  or  search.  The  British 
admitted  that  instructions  had  been  given  to  misuse  neutral 
flags  and  it  thus  became  necessary  to  ascertain  the  identity  of 
neutral  vessels,  unless  they  sailed  in  daylight  under  convoy. 
Attacks  to  be  expected  from  masked  British  merchantmen  made 
a  search  impossible  as  the  submarines  themselves  would  be 
exposed  to  destruction.  The  safety  of  neutral  shipping  in  the 
war  zone  therefore  was  seriously  threatened.  There  was  also 
danger  from  mines  which  were  to  be  laid  in  the  zone  to  a 
great  extent.  To  this  kind  of  warfare  Germany  had  been 
driven  by  the  murderous  ways  of  the  British  who  sought  to 
destroy  lawful  neutral  trade  and  starve  the  German  people. 
Germany  would  be  obliged  to  hold  to  the  principles  announced 
until  England  submitted  to  the  rules  of  warfare  established 
by  the  Declarations  of  Paris  and  London  or  until  she  was  forced 
by  neutral  powers  to  do  so. 

Without  waiting  for  the  Foreign  Office  to  formally  reply 
to  the  American  note,  Admiral  Behncke  made  a  statement  on 
February  16,  to  Lieutenant  Commander  Gherardi,  naval  at- 
tache to  the  American  Embassy.  England,  he  said,  was  bent 
on  subduing  Germany  by  starvation.  Germany  in  every  way 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  71 

had  attempted  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  neutral  powers  her 
need  of  food  for  her  civilian  population.  Her  efforts  resulted 
in  nothing.  Now  that  the  cutting  off  of  food  "had  come  to  a 
point  where  Germany  no  longer  had  sufficient  food  to  feed  her 
people,  it  became  necessary  for  her  to  bring  England  to  terms 
by  the  use  of  force."  By  the  submarine  she  could  be  brought 
to  the  condition  of  needing  food  for  her  people.  Germany  did 
not  wish  to  harm  American  ships  or  their  cargoes  unless  con- 
traband of  war.  But  she  was  "in  a  position  where  her  life 
depends  upon  her  putting  into  effect  the  only  means  she  has 
of  saving  herself.  She  must  and  will  use  this  means."  In 
spite  of  the  great  effect  the  submarine  would  have  on  shorten- 
ing the  war,  "the  Admiralty  does  not  wish,"  Admiral  Behncke 
continued,  "to  put  it  into  effect  to  the  detriment  of  neutral 
commerce  and  the  rights  of  nations  on  the  high  seas.  They 
have,  therefore,  stated  that  if  Great  Britain  will  abide  by  the 
Declaration  of  London,  without  modification,  or  by  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  whereby  food  supplies  necessary  for  the  civilian  popu- 
lation can  be  freely  brought  into  Germany,  the  whole  matter 
of  a  submarine  blockade  will  be  dropped  by  Germany."  The 
Admiral  further  suggested  that  American  ships  should  proceed 
under  convoy  and  so  be  exempt  from  search. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  February,  the  clay  after  the  War  Zone 
order  went  into  force,  the  text  of  Germany's  reply  to  the 
American  note  was  made  public. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  this  note  said,  Germany  had 
scrupulously  observed  "valid  international  rules  regarding  naval 
warfare,"  and  had  done  so  even  to  the  injury  of  her  military 
interests.  Thus  Germany  "allowed  the  transport  of  provisions 
to  England  from  Denmark  until  to-day  though  she  was  well 
able  by  her  sea  power  to  prevent  it."  England  on  the  other 
hand  had  not  hesitated  to  infringe  international  law  a  second 
time,  in  order  to  paralyze  the  peaceful  commerce  of  Germany 
with  neutrals. 

All  these  encroachments  were  made  in  order  to  cut  off  all 
supplies  to  Germany  and  so  starve  her  civil  population,  "a  pro- 
cedure contrary  to  humanitarian  principles."  America,  it  was 
true,  protested,  but  could  not  induce  England  to  depart  from 
her  course  of  action.  Thus  the  American  ship  Wilhelmina  had 


72       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

been  stopped  by  British,  although  her  cargo  was  destined  solely 
for  the  German  civil  population  and  the  German  Government 
had  expressly  declared  it  should  be  used  "only  for  this  pur- 
pose." 

Germany  was  "as  good  as  cut  off  from  her  overseas  supply 
by  the  silent  or  protesting  toleration  of  neutrals,"  not  only  of 
such  goods  as  are  absolute  contraband,  but  such  also  as  before 
the  war  were  merely  conditional,  or  not  contraband  at  all. 
Great  Britain  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  toleration  of  neutral 
governments,  was  not  only  supplied  with  goods  conditionally 
contraband,  or  not  contraband,  but  also  with  those  which  are 
held  by  her  to  be  absolutely  contraband  if  sent  to  Germany, 
as  provisions,  raw  materials  and  the  like. 

Germany  felt  "obliged  to  point  out  with  the  greatest  em- 
phasis, that  a  traffic  in  arms,  estimated  at  many  hundreds  of 
millions,"  was  going  on  between  American  firms  and  the 
enemies  of  Germany. 

Because  of  this  situation,  Germany,  "after  six  months  of 
patient  waiting,"  had  been  forced  "to  answer  Great  Britain's 
murderous  method  of  naval  warfare  with  sharp  counter  meas- 
ures." Great  Britain  having  summoned  hunger  as  an  ally  in 
order  to  force  seventy  millions  of  people  to  choose  between  star- 
vation and  submission  to  her  commercial  will,  Germany  had  de- 
cided to  appeal  to  similar  allies.  The  German  Government 
was  determined  by  every  means  in  her  power  to  suppress  the 
importations  of  war  material  to  Great  Britain  and  her  allies, 
and  took  it  for  granted  that  neutrals  which  had  taken  no  meas- 
ures to  stop  the  traffic  in  arms  to  her  enemies  would  make  no 
complaint  because  of  its  forcible  suppression  by  Germany. 

Therefore  the  Admiralty  had  proclaimed  a  war  zone  with 
limits  exactly  defined.  Germany  would  seek  to  close  this  zone 
with  mines,  and  would  endeavor  to  destroy  hostile  merchant 
ships  in  every  possible  way.  The  German  Government  did  not 
fail  to  recognize  the  danger  to  neutral  ships,  but  it  was  jus- 
tified in  expecting  that  "neutrals  will  acquiesce  in  those  meas- 
ures as  they  have  done  in  the  case  of  grievous  damages  upon 
them"  by  Great  Britain. 

Germany  had  announced  the  destruction  of  all  enemy  mer- 
chant vessels  found  within  the  zone,  but  not  all  merchant  ves- 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  73 

sels  as  the  United  States  has  erroneously  supposed.  Germany 
was  ready  to  deliberate  with  the  United  States  as  to  the  best 
way  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  lawful  shipping  of  neutrals  in 
the  war  zone ;  but  two  things  made  this  difficult,  the  misuse  of 
neutral  flags  by  British  shipping,  and  the  trade  in  war  ma- 
terial in  neutral  ships.  Great  Britain  again  had  furnished 
arms  to  British  merchant  ships  and  had  instructed  them  for- 
cibly to  resist  German  submarines.  It  would  be  hard,  there- 
fore, for  submarines  to  recognize  neutral  ships.  Search  in  most 
cases  could  not  be  made  because  in  the  case  of  a  disguised 
British  merchant  ship,  from  which  an  attack  might  be  ex- 
pected, both  searching  party  and  submarine  would  be  exposed 
to  destruction. 

The  suggestion  was  then  made  that  the  United  States  "make 
their  ships  which  are  conveying  peaceful  cargoes  through  the 
British  war  zone  discernible  by  means  of  convoys."  Germany 
would  be  "particularly  grateful"  if  American  vessels  were  rec- 
ommended to  avoid  the  war  zone  until  the  flag  question  was  set- 
tled. If  the  United  States  should  find  a  way  to  remove  the 
causes  which  made  the  war  zone  and  the  submarine  warfare 
necessary,  and  "in  particular  should  find  a  way  to  make  the 
Declaration  of  London  respected,"  Germany  would  "gladly 
draw  conclusions  from  the  new  situation." 

In  Germany  the  note  was  naturally  approved.  Neutrals 
must  either  force  Great  Britain  to  fight  fairly  or  else  keep  their 
ships  out  of  the  war  zone.  It  left  no  doubt  of  Germany's 
intention  to  make  reprisals  on  Great  Britain,  and  neutrals  must 
understand  that  all  Germany  desires  this,  and  that  this  policy 
will  be  carried  out.  The  note  had  none  of  the  excited  tone  used 
by  America  when  a  single  shipload  of  weapons  was  delivered 
in  Mexico  by  Germany.  America's  bluff  assumption  that  Ger- 
many would  assume  responsibility  for  endangering  her  ships 
is  flatly  rejected.  German  submarine  commanders  had  been 
instructed  not  to  injure  American  ships  when  recognizable,  but 
they  would  be  recognizable  as  such  only  when  accompanied  by 
American  warships.  To  assume  that  the  American  flag  made 
them  recognizable  was  to  misread  the  note. 

The  German  note  referred  to  the  Wilhelmina  case.  On 
February  9,  under  stress  of  weather,  her  captain  took  her  into 


74       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  port  of  Falmouth.  There  the  cargo  of  foodstuffs,  but  not 
the  vessel,  was  seized  and  put  in  prize  court.  The  Secretary 
of  State  as  soon  as  possible,  protested,  and  February  19  Sir 
Edward  Grey  replied. 

When  His  Majesty's  Government,  he  said,  ordered  the  seiz- 
ure of  the  cargo  as  contraband  they  had  before  them  the  text 
of  a  decree  of  the  German  Federal  Council  under  which  all 
grain  and  flour  imported  after  January  31  must  be  delivered  to 
certain  organizations  under  direct  control  of  government,  or  of 
municipal  authorities.  The  Wilhelmina  was  bound  for  Ham- 
burg, one  of  the  free  cities  of  the  German  Empire,  the  govern- 
ment of  which  is  vested  in  the  municipality. 

Information  had  only  just  reached  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment that  by  a  decree  of  February  6,  the  provisions  as  to  grain 
and  flour  delivery  had  been  repealed  for  the  express  purpose,  it 
would  seem,  of  making  difficult  the  anticipated  proceedings 
against  the  Wilhelmina. 

But  the  German  decree  was  not  the  only  ground  on  which 
the  submission  of  her  cargo  to  a  prize  court  was  justifiable. 
The  German  Government  had  treated  every  town  or  port  on 
the  east  coast  of  England  as  a  fortified  place,  and  base  of 
operations,  and  had  bombarded  Yarmouth,  Whitby  and  Scar- 
borough. Neutral  vessels  sailing  from  English  ports  had  been 
seized  and  brought  before  German  prize  courts.  The  Dutch 
vessel  Maria  from  California  with  grain  consigned  to  Dublin 
and  Belfast,  had  been  sunk  by  the  Karlsruhe. 

"The  German  Government  cannot  have  it  both  ways."  If  it 
thought  itself  justified  in  destroying  the  lives  and  property  of 
peaceful  civil  inhabitants  of  English  open  towns  and  in  seiz- 
ing and  sinking  ships  and  cargoes  of  conditional  contraband 
bound  thither,  because  they  considered  them  consigned  to  a 
fortified  base,  His  Majesty's  Government  had  the  right  to  treat 
Hamburg,  partly  protected  by  fortifications  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Elbe,  as  a  fortified  town  and  base  of  supply.  If  the  owners 
of  the  cargo  of  the  Wilhelmina  felt  aggrieved  by  the  action  of 
His  Majesty's  Government  they  could  present  their  case  before 
the  prize  court.  The  owners  of  the  vessel  and  the  owners  of 
the  cargo,  if  found  to  be  contraband,  would  be  indemnified. 

Germany  had  maltreated  the  civil  population  of  Belgium 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  75 

and  of  such  parts  of  France  as  she  held ;  had  planted  mines  in 
the  high  seas  long  before  any  had  been  sown  by  Great  Britain ; 
had  sunk  neutral  ships  and  their  unoffending  crews;  fired  on 
English  towns  and  defenseless  British  subjects;  bombarded 
from  airships  quiet  country  towns  and  villages  devoid  of  de- 
fense; torpedoed  British  ships  at  sight  without  warning  to  the 
crew  and  without  a  chance  to  save  their  lives;  fired  on  a 
British  hospital  ship  in  daylight,  and  had  threatened  with  de- 
struction all  British  merchantmen  and  neutrals  found  near  the 
British  Isles. 

Faced  by  such  a  situation  it  was  unreasonable  to  expect 
Great  Britain  and  her  Allies  to  remain  bound  by  rules  and 
principles  which  they  recognized  as  just  if  impartially  ob- 
served as  between  belligerents,  but  were  openly  set  at  defiance 
by  the  enemy. 

Germany  having  suggested  that  the  United  States  should 
seek  a  way  to  make  the  Declaration  of  London  respected,  and 
to  remove  the  grounds  which  made  her  course  of  action  neces- 
sary, the  Secretary  of  State  on  February  20  addressed  identical 
notes  to  Great  Britain  and  Germany  suggesting  a  basis  of  set- 
tlement. 

In  view,  each  said,  of  the  correspondence  which  had  passed 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
relative  to  the  war  zone  enclosed  by  Germany  and  the  use  of 
neutral  flags  by  British  merchantmen,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  ventured  to  express  a  hope  that  the  two  belliger- 
ent governments  might  reach  a  basis  for  an  agreement  which 
would  relieve  neutral  vessels  from  the  dangers  which  beset 
them  in  waters  adjacent  to  the  coasts  of  the  belligerents.  This 
basis  might  be  reached  by  reciprocal  concessions,  and  as  a  means 
of  drawing  forth  the  views  of  the  two  belligerents  the  United 
States  would  suggest : 

1.  That  neither  sow  floating  mines  on  the  high  seas,  or  in 
territorial  waters ;  that  neither  plant  on  the  high  seas,  anchored 
mines  save  within  cannon  range  of  harbors ;  that  all  mines  bear 
the  stamp  of  the  Government  planting  them;  and  be  so  con- 
structed, as  to  become  harmless  if  they  drifted  from  their 
moorings. 


76       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

2.  That  neither  use  submarines  to  attack  merchantmen 
save  for  the  purpose  of  visit  and  search. 

3.  That  each  forbid  its  merchant  ships  to  use  neutral  flags 
as  a  ruse  de  guerre. 

Germany  was  to  agree  that  all  foodstuffs  sent  to  her  from 
the  United  States  shall  be  consigned  to  agencies  designated  by 
the  United  States ;  that  these  American  agencies  shall  have  en- 
tire charge  of  the  receipt  and  distribution  of  all  importations; 
that  they  should  be  distributed  to  none  but  retailers  having 
licenses  from  the  German  Government;  and  that  such  food- 
stuffs will  not  be  requisitioned  by  the  German  Government  for 
any  purpose  whatsoever. 

Great  Britain  was  to  agree  that  food  and  foodstuffs  will 
not  be  made  absolute  contraband,  nor  interfered  with  nor  de- 
tained if  consigned  to  the  American  agencies  in  Germany,  and 
distributed  by  them  to  licensed  German  retailers  for  the  use 
solely  of  noncombatants. 

February  28,  the  German  Government  answered  that  it  was 
prepared  to  make  the  declaration  concerning  floating  mines,  and 
the  construction  of  anchored  mines,  and  affix  a  Government 
stamp  to  all  that  were  laid;  but  did  not  think  it  possible  to 
fully  renounce  the  use  of  anchored  mines  for  purposes  of  of- 
fense. 

German  submarines,  it  was  willing  to  agree,  should  use 
force  against  merchant  vessels  of  whatever  flag  only  in  so  far 
as  necessary  to  <;arry  out  the  right  of  visit  and  search.  Should 
the  enemy  character  of  the  ship,  or  the  presence  of  contraband 
be  proved,  the  submarine  must  be  free  to  act  according  to  inter- 
national law.  All  this,  however,  was  "contingent  on  the  fact" 
that  the  enemy  merchant  ships  did  not  use  neutral  flags  or 
other  "neutral  distinctive  marks."  They  must  also  be  unarmed 
and  not  resist  by  force. 

"The  regulation  of  legitimate  importations  of  food  into 
Germany"  suggested  by  our  Government  seemed  to  be  in  gen- 
eral acceptable.  But  such  regulations  must  be  confined  to  im- 
portations by  sea,  and  to  indirect  importations  by  way  of  neu- 
tral ports.  The  German  Government  was  therefore  willing  to 
make  the  declarations  provided  for  in  the  American  note,  so 
that  the  importation  of  food  and  foodstuffs  solely  for  the  non- 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  77 

combatant  population  would  be  guaranteed.  But  the  enemy 
governments  must  also  allow  the  free  importation  into  Ger- 
many of  the  raw  materials  on  the  free  list  of  the  Declaration 
of  London. 

March  1,  the  Allies,  Great  Britain  and  France,  announced 
their  policy  towards  Germany  because  of  her  submarine  block- 
ade. Germany,  they  said,  had  declared  the  waters  around  the 
British  Isles,  the  English  Channel  and  the  north  and  west 
coasts  of  France  a  war  zone,  and  had  claimed  the  right  to 
torpedo  without  warning  any  merchant  vessel  under  any  flag. 
As  Germany  could  not  maintain  any  surface  craft  in  these 
waters  the  attack  must  be  by  submarine.  The  law  and  customs 
of  nations  had  always  required  that  the  captor  bring  his  prize 
before  a  prize  court,  where  the  regularity  of  the  capture  may 
be  challenged.  The  responsibility  of  discriminating  between 
neutral  and  enemy  ships  had  always  rested  with  the  captor.  So 
also  the  duty  of  providing  for  the  safety  of  the  crew  and  pas- 
sengers. But  the  German  submarine  observes  none  of  these 
obligations.  She  does  not  take  her  prize  into  any  court,  uses 
no  means  to  discriminate  between  neutral  and  enemy  property, 
does  not  receive  on  board  for  safety  the  crew  of  the  vessel  she 
sinks.  The  German  declaration  substitutes  indiscriminate  de- 
struction for  regulated  capture.  Her  opponents  are,  therefore, 
driven  to  retaliation  in  order  to  prevent  commodities  of  any 
sort  reaching  Germany.  These  measures,  however,  will  be  en- 
forced without  risk  to  neutral  property  or  the  lives  of  non- 
combatants.  The  British  and  French  Governments  will  be  free 
to  detain  and  take  into  ports  ships  carrying  goods  of  presumed 
enemy  declaration,  but  will  not  confiscate  such  vessels  and  car- 
goes unless  they  would  otherwise  be  liable  to  confiscation. 

«/ 

Great  opposition  was  made  to  this  announcement  in  our 
country.  A  strong  protest  by  the  Government  was  expected, 
for  the  effect  was  to  end  our  commerce  with  Germany. 

March  5,  the  Secretary  of  State  addressed  a  note  to  each  of 
the  belligerents  asking  how  the  embargo  on  commerce  with  Ger- 
many was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  The  intent  seemed  to  be 
to  take  into  custody  all  vessels  trading  with  Germany  whether 
outgoing  or  incoming.  This  was  in  effect  a  blockade  of  Ger- 
man ports.  Nevertheless  the  rule  of  blockade  that  a  ship  at- 


78       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

tempting  to  break  this  blockade  may,  regardless  of  its  cargo, 
be  condemned  is  not  asserted.  Great  Britain  and  France,  it 
was  declared,  were  to  be  "free  to  detain  and  take  into  ports 
ships  carrying  goods  of  presumed  enemy  destination,  ownership 
or  origin.  But  neither  vessels  nor  cargoes  were  to  be  con- 
fiscated unless  otherwise  liable  to  condemnation." 

The  first  sentence  asserted  a  right  arising  only  from  a 
state  of  blockade.  The  last  sentence  proposes  "'a  treatment  of 
ships  and  cargoes  as  if  no  blockade  existed." 

By  the  rules  governing  the  export  of  enemy  goods  from  an 
enemy  country  only  enemy  goods  in  enemy  bottoms  are  subject 
to  seizure.  Yet  the  declaration  proposes  to  seize  and  take  into 
port  all  goods  of  enemy  ownership  and  origin. 

The  use  of  the  word  "origin"  was  significant.  Except  in 
case  of  blockade  the  origin  of  goods  found  in  neutral  ships  on 
their  way  to  neutral  countries  had  never  been  a  ground  for  for- 
feiture. Delay,  then,  and  nothing  else  could  come  from  such 
seizure.  What  would  be  done  with  such  cargoes  if  found  to 
belong  to  a  neutral  ?  If  found  to  belong  to  an  enemy  ?  Would 
there  be  different  rules  for  different  ownership  ? 

The  United  States  was  fully  alive  to  the  fact  that  the  sub- 
marine might  make  the  old-fashioned  means  of  blockade  impos- 
sible. But  there  should  be  some  limit  to  the  '"radius  of  ac- 
tivity." "It  would  certainly  create  a  serious  state  of  affairs, 
if,  for  example,  an  American  vessel  laden  with  a  cargo  of 
German  origin  should  escape  the  British  patrol  in  European 
waters  only  to  be  held  up  by  a  cruiser  off  New  York  and  taken 
into  Halifax." 

France  replied  on  March  14:  "As  well  stated  in  the  Amer- 
ican note,  the  old  methods  of  blockade  could  not  be  entirely 
adopted  because  of  the  use  of  the  submarine  by  Germany,  and 
the  geographical  situation  of  that  country.  Because  of  the 
declaration  of  war  zone  along  the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  and 
of  France,  on  the  Channel,  the  allied  Government  had  been 
forced  to  cut  off  all  maritime  communication  with  the  German 
Empire"  and  thus  keep  it  blockaded  by  the  naval  power  of  the 
two  Allies. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic,  therefore,  reserved  the 
right  to  bring  into  a  French  or  allied  port,  any  ship  carryhu, 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  79 

a  cargo  of  presumed  German  origin,  destination  or  ownership. 
I  Jut  no  neutral  ship  would  be  seized  unless  it  carried  contra- 
band. Should  a  neutral  prove  his  ownership  of  goods  destined 
for  Germany  he  might  dispose  of  them  subject  to  certain  re- 
strictions. If  the  owner  of  the  goods  were  a  German  they 
would  be  sequestered  during  the  war.  Goods  of  enemy  origin 
would  not  be  sequestered  unless  owned  by  an  enemy.  Goods 
belonging  to  neutrals  would  be  held  at  the  disposal  of  the 
owner  to  be  returned  to  the  port  of  departure. 

Great  Britain,  by  way  of  reply,  sent  a  copy  of  new  Orders 
in  Council  to  be  issued  March  15,  and  stated  that  the  purpose 
of  the  British  Government  was  "to  establish  a  blockade  to 
prevent  vessels  carrying  goods  for  or  coming  from  Germany." 
Reluctant  to  exact  from  neutral  ships  all  the  penalties  of  a 
breach  of  blockade,  the  belligerent  right  to  confiscate  ships  or 
cargoes  would  not  be  exercised,  but  merely  the  cargoes  stopped 
on  their  way  to  or  from  the  enemy's  country.  It  was  "not  in- 
tended to  interfere  with  neutral  vessels  carrying  enemy  cargoes 
of  noncontraband  nature  outside  European  waters,  including 
the  Mediterranean." 

On  the  same  day,  March  15,  on  which  Mr.  Page  received 
the  copy  of  the  Order  in  Council  and  the  note,  he  was  handed 
a  long  memorandum  dated  March  23,  in  reply  to  the  American 
note  suggesting  a  basis  of  concession. 

It  appeared,  Sir  Edward  Grey  said,  from  the  answer  of 
Germany  to  the  suggestion,  that  she  would  not  cease  sinking 
British  merchant  vessels  by  submarines,  nor  abandon  the  use 
of  mines  for  offensive  purposes  on  the  high  seas.  The  British 
Government  might,  therefore,,  make  no  further  reply  than  to 
take  note  of  the  German  answer.  But  the  British  Govern- 
ment desired  "to  take  the  opportunity  of  making  a  fuller  state- 
ment of  the  whole  position,  and  of  our  feeling  with  regard 
to  it." 

The  United  States  wished  to  see  the  war  conducted  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  international  law  and  the  dictates  of  human- 
ity. Such  had  been  the  conduct  of  the  British  forces.  No 
instance  of  improper  proceedings,  either  in  the  conduct  of  hos- 
tilities, or  the  treatment  of  prisoners  or  wounded,  could  be  laid 
to  the  charge  of  British  forces  on  land  or  sea. 


80       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

On  the  German  side  it  had  been  different : 

1.  "The  treatment  of  civilian  inhabitants  in  Belgium  and 
the  north  of  France  had  been  made  public,"  by  the  French  and 
Belgian  Governments  "and  by  those  who  have  had  experience 
of  it  first  hand.     Modern  history  afforded  no  other  instance 
of  such  suffering  inflicted  on  a  defenseless  and  noncombatant 
people." 

2.  From  time  to  time  terrible  accounts  had  been  received 
of  the  barbarous  treatment  of  British  prisoners  on  their  way 
to  German  prison  camps. 

3.  Germany  had  laid  mine  fields  in  the  high  seas  without 
warning  and  many  neutral  and  British  vessels  had  been  sunk 
by  these. 

4.  Submarines  had  stopped  and  sunk  British  merchant- 
men so  many  times  that  the  sinking  of  such  vessels  had  become 
a  German  practice.     A  German  armed  cruiser  had  sunk  an 
American  ship,  the  William  P.  Frye,  carrying  wheat  from 
Seattle  to  Queenstown.     Her  cargo  should  not  have  been  con- 
demned without  the  decision  of  a  prize  court,  nor  should  the 
vessel  have  been  sunk.     The  fortified,  open  and  defenseless 
towns,  as  Scarborough,  Yarmouth  and  Whitby,  have  been  bom- 
barded, and  civilians,  including  women  and  children,  killed. 
Gorman  air  craft  have  dropped  bombs  on  the  east  coast  of 
England. 

It  is  said  that  British  naval  authorities  have  laid  anchored 
mines.  They  have,  but  the  mines  were  so  constructed  that 
they  would  be  harmless  if  they  went  adrift.  Nor  had  this  been 
done  until  long  after  the  Germans  had  made  it  a  regular  prac- 
tice to  sow  mines  in  the  high  seas. 

It  had  been  said  that  -the  British  Government  had  departed 
from  their  old  position  that  foodstuffs  should  not  be  interfered 
with  when  destined  for  a  civil  population.  The  charge  was 
based  on  the  fact  that  the  cargo  of  the  Wilhelmina,  had  been 
submitted  to  a  prize  court.  Why  this  was  done  had  already 
been  explained  to  the  United  States. 

The  Government  of  Great  Britain  and  that  of  France  had 
frankly  declared  their  intention  to  meet  German  attempts  to 
stop  supplies  of  every  sort  from  leaving  or  entering  British  or 
French  ports,  "by  themselves  stopping  supplies  going  to  or  from 


NEUTRAL  TRADE  81 

Germany.  The  British  fleet  has  instituted  a  blockade  effec- 
tively controlling  by  cruiser  cordon  all  passes  to  or  from  Ger- 
many by  sea." 

The  difference  between  the  two  policies  is  that  Great 
Britain  proposes  to  attain  her  end  without  sacrificing  neutral 
ships,  taking  the  lives  of  noncombatants  "or  inflicting  upon 
neutrals  the  damage  that  must  be  entailed  when  a  vessel  and 
its  cargo  are  sunk  without  notice,  examination  or  trial. 

One  important  fact,  said  the  critics,  clearly  established  by 
the  notes,  is  the  admission  that  the  cutting  off  of  trade  with 
Germany  is  a  blockade.  Of  this  no  neutral,  no  matter  how 
much  its  trade  may  suffer,  can  complain.  Whether  a  blockade 
can  "be* established  at  so  great  a  distance  from  an  enemy's  ports 
is  another  question.  But  the  promise  that  ships  carrying  car- 
goes to  German  ports  will  not  be  confiscated,  and  that  neutral 
vessels  out  of  German  waters  will  not  be  molested,  .makes  the 
question  of  little  importance.  That  neither  power  "will  depart 
from  its  position  is  certain,  and  nothing  short  of  the  use  of 
force  remains  for  the  United  States  save  protest. 


CHAPTEK  IV 

SUBMARINE   FKIGHTFULNESS 

FEBRUARY  18,  1915,  the  German  war  zone  proclamation 
went  into  effect  and  the  campaign  of  frightfulness  on  the  sea 
opened  at  once.  The  Secretary  of  State,  in  his  note,  had  de- 
clared that  the  United  States  would  "hold  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man ^Government  to  strict  accountability"  if  American  ships 
were  sunk  without  warning,  and  would  take  steps  ato  safeguard 
American  lives  and  property  and  to  secure  American  citizens 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rights  on  the  high  seas."  But 
Germany  cared  nothing  whatever  for  the  warning  and  on  the 
twentieth  of  the  month  the  Evelyn  was  sunk  off  the  Borkum 
Islands,  and  three  days  later  the  Carib  went  down  off  the  coast 
of  Germany.  Both  were  American  vessels  laden  with  cotton 
for  Bremen  and  each  was  destroyed  by  a  German  mine.  The 
first  case  of  deliberate  sinking  of  an  American  vessel  became 
known  on  March  10,  when  the  German  auxiliary  cruiser  Prinz 
Eitel  Friedrick,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  country,  en- 
tered Newport  News  and  her  commander  reported  that  he  had 
sunk  the  American  vessel  William  P.  Frye. 

The  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich  sailed  from  Tsing  Tau  and  while 
cruising  in  the  south  Atlantic  fell  in  with  the  Frye  on  January 
27,  put  an  armed  force  aboard  and  took  possession. 

Wheat  was  not  contraband,  but  the  commander  of  the  cruiser 
decided  it  was  and  ordered  the  cargo  thrown  into  the  sea.  On 
February  28,  finding  this  proceeding  too  slow,  he  ordered  the 
crew  aboard  his  ship  and  sank  the  Frye  with  gun  fire. 

March  28,  when  south  of  St.  George's  Channel,  the  British 
ship  Falaba,  out  of  Liverpool,  bound  for  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  was  attacked  by  a  German  submarine  and  five  minutes 
allowed  the  passengers  and  crew,  some  250  in  number,  to  take 
to  the  lifeboats.  But  before  even  that  short  time  elapsed  a 
torpedo  struck  near  the  engine  room,  exploded,  killed  many, 

82 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  83 

and  in  ten  minutes  the  Falaba  sank.  Among  the  passengers 
lost  was  an  American  citizen,  Mr.  Leon  Thrasher,  on  his  way 
to  Africa. 

Another  instance  of  defiance  was  the  case  of  the  German 
merchant  ship  Odenwald.  After  lying  in  the  port  of  San  Juan, 
Porto  Rico,  since  the  opening  of  the  war,  her  Captain  decided 
to  take  the  risk  of  going  to  sea  and  applied  for  a  clearance. 
It  was  not  given,  whereupon  the  Captain  started  for  sea  with- 
out a  clearance,  was  fired  on  by  the  fort  and  forced  to  turn 
back. 

The  German  Embassy  at  once  requested  an  investigation 
and  gave  its  own  version  of  the  affair.  The  Captain,  it  was 
said,  had  asked  clearance  papers  for  Hamburg,  and  the  Oden- 
wald was  twice  searched  under  orders  from  Washington.  The 
result  was  satisfactory  to  the  Custom  House  authorities  and 
papers  were  promised.  After  waiting  three  days  without  re- 
ceiving any,  the  Captain,  fearing  the  enemy  cruisers  would 
assemble  off  the  port,  started  for  sea  without  his  papers,  and 
was  fired  on  from  the  Morro  Castle  without  the  usual  "blind 
shot"  of  warning.  That  he  should  defy  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  and  attempt  to  leave  the  port  in  an  unlawful  manner  was 
of  no  importance  to  the  German  Ambassador.  That  the  Oden- 
wald was  fired  on  before  a  blank  shot  had  been  sent  across  her 
bows  was  a  grievance  to  be  investigated. 

Clearance  papers,  Secretary  Bryan  replied,  had  been  with- 
held under  orders  from  Washington;  the  Captain  of  the  Oden- 
wald had  twice  been  warned  not  to  leave  without  his  papers 
lest  he  be  fired  on  from  the  fort,  and  in  defiance  of  the  warning 
had  raised  anchor  and  started  for  sea  on  the  afternoon  of 
March  21.  As  he  passed  close  to  the  San  Augustine  Bastion, 
the  officer  in  command  hailed  him  several  times;  but  the 
Odenwald  went  on  her  way  and  some  75  shots  from  a  machine 
gun  were  fired  and  fell  in'  front  and  short  of  her.  Lest  vessels 
ahead  of  her  should  be  injured  15  shots  were  fired  astern  of  the 
Odenwald.  These  were  small  solid  shot,  were  not  intended  to, 
and  did  not,  strike  her,  and  were  used  as  a  warning  because 
blank  cartridges  could  not  be  used  in  a  machine  gun.  As  the 
Odenwald  gave  no  heed  to  the  warning,  a  shot  was  fired  from  a 
4.7  inch  gun  on  the  Morro  Castle,  and  struck  tho  water  300 


84       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

yards  in  front  of  her  and  short  of  her  projected  course.  She 
then  stopped  and  was  brought  back  to  her  anchorage.  By  her 
attempt  to  leave  port  "without  papers"  she  "committed  a  willful 
breach  of  the  navigation  laws  of  the  United  States." 

A  claim  for  $228,059.44  damages  in  the  case  of  the  Frye 
having  been  promptly  presented,  Herr  von  Jagow  replied  that 
the  wheat  was  consigned  to  Queenstown,  Falmouth,  or  Plym- 
outh "to  order" ;  that  each  of  these  ports  was  strongly  fortified 
and  served  as  a  base  for  the  British  naval  forces  and  that 
the  commander,  therefore,  "acted  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  international  law  as  laid  down  in  the  Declaration 
of  London  and  the  German  prize  ordinance."  Wheat,  von 
Jagow  held,  was  food,  was  conditional  contraband,  and  because 
it  was  on  its  way  to  a  fortified  port  was  to  be  considered  as 
destined  for  the  armed  forces  of  the  enemy  and  became  con- 
traband. 

The  sinking  of  the  ship  was  permissible  "since  it  was  not 
possible  for  the  auxiliary  cruiser  to  take  the  prize  into  a  Ger- 
man port"  without  endangering  his  own  operations.  The  legal- 
ity of  the  measures  taken  by  the  commander  of  the  cruiser 
would  be  examined  by  a  prize  court  as  soon  as  the  ship's 
papers  were  received.  But  Article  XIII.,  of  the  Prussian- 
American  treaty  of  1799,  and  Article  XJL,  of  the  treaty  of 
1828,  provided  that  contraband  belonging  to  the  subjects  or 
citizens  of  either  party  could  not  be  confiscated  by  the  other, 
but  only  detained  or  used  subject  to  payment  of  full  value. 
Because  of  these  Articles  the  owners  of  ship  and  cargo  would 
be  compensated  even  if  the  court  decided  the  cargo  contra- 
band. 

The  prize  court  found  that  the  cargo  was  contraband,  that 
the  Frye  could  not  have  been  taken  into  port,  that  the  sinking 
was  therefore  justified,  and  the  German  Government  was  liable 
for  damages;  but  the  court  could  not  fix  the  amount  for  lack 
of  necessary  information.  An  interchange  of  notes  now  fol- 
lowed and  months  passed  away  before  it  was  agreed  that  the 
matter  of  damages  should  be  settled  by  two  experts;  that  if 
they  disagreed  an  umpire  should  be  appointed,  and  that  the 
difference  over  the  interpretation  of  the  treaty  should  be  sub- 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  85 

mitted  to  arbitration.  With  this  the  case  rested  and  nothing 
more  had  been  done  when  we  entered  the  war. 

Concerning  the  Falaba,  the  German  Embassy  on  April  6 
announced  that  the  Ambassador  had  received  from  Berlin  this 
official  message: 

"A  report  from  the  submarine  has  not  yet  been  received. 
However,  according  to  trustworthy  reports  the  submarine  re- 
quested the  steamship  Falaba  to  put  passengers  and  crew  into 
lifeboats  when  other  ships  came  up.  Lately  English  merchant 
ships  have  been  provided  with  guns  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment and  advised  to  warn  or  otherwise  attack  German  sub- 
marines. This  advice  has  repeatedly  been  followed  in  order  to 
win  promised  rewards.  Military  necessity,  consequently,  forced 
the  submarine  to  act  quickly,  which  made  granting  of  longer 
space  of  time  and  the  saving  of  lives  impossible. 

"The  German  Government  regrets  sacrifices  of  human  lives, 
but  both  British  ships  and  neutral  passengers  on  board  such 
ships  were  warned  urgently  and  in  time  not  to  cross  the  war 
zone.  Responsibility  rests,  therefore,  with  the  British  Gov- 
ernment which,  contrary  to  international  law,  inaugurated  com- 
mercial war  against  Germany  and,  contrary  to  international 
law,  has  caused  merchant  ships  to  offer  armed  resistance." 

And  now  the  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich  was  interned.  As  soon 
as  possible  after  her  entrance  a  survey  of  the  ship  was  made  to 
determine  what  repairs  were  needed,  and  fourteen  working  days, 
dating  from  March  20,  were  allowed  in  which  to  make  them. 
At  midnight  on  April  6,  they  must  be  finished,  and  twenty-four 
hours  later,  at  midnight  on  April  7,  she  must  leave  the  waters 
of  the  United  States  or  be  interned  for  the  duration  of  the 
war.  As  the  time  for  departure  drew  near  a  great  show  of 
preparation  was  made.  Coal  and  provisions  were  taken  aboard, 
the  band  played  German  airs,  and  it  seemed  she  would  sail 
early  in  April.  But  she  did  not  and  when  the  time  expired 
her  Captain  announced  that  he  feared  capture  if  he  went  to 
sea,  and  the  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich  was  formally  interned  on 
April  10. 

The  next  day,  April  11,  the  German  sea  raider  Eronprinz 
Wilhelm  also  arrived  at  Newport  News.  She  had  slipped  out 
of  Hoboken  on  August  3,  1914,  had  found  the  Karlsruhe  wait- 


86       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ing  for  her  at  sea  with  a  new  captain,  two  guns  and  50  men, 
and  during  251  days  had  roamed  the  sea  as  a  raider.  Two 
more  guns  were  taken  from  a  prize.  Her  prizes  were  fifteen 
in  number,  ten  British,  four  French  and  one  Norwegian.  She 
also  was  interned  on  April  26. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  a  German  aeroplane  dropped 
three  bombs  on  the  American  steamer  Gushing.  From  the  story 
told  by  her  Captain,  it  appears  she  was  steaming  along  at 
eleven  knots  an  hour  in  the  North  Sea  when  an  aeroplane  was 
seen  circling  around  her.  It  was  early  in  the  evening  and  broad 
daylight  and  the  maltese  cross  and  the  German  colors  were 
plainly  seen  on  the  aeroplane  a  thousand  feet  above  the  ship. 
Suddenly  a  waterspout  rose  about  a  foot  off  the  port  quarter 
and  tons  of  water  came  on  deck.  Then  a  second  spout  rose  in 
the  same  position  and  about  the  same  distance  from  the 
Cushing.  The  crew  were  ordered  to  shelter  just  as  a  third 
bomb  struck  the  rail  near  the  smokestack,  exploded,  and  splin- 
ters flew  about  the  deck,  several  passing  through  the  American 
ensign. 

Three  days  later  the  American  oil  tank  steamship  Oulflight 
when  off  the  Scilly  Islands  on  her  way  from  Port  Arthur, 
Texas,  to  Rouen,  France,  was  torpedoed  by  a  German  sub- 
marine but  did  not  sink.  Her  captain  died  from  shock,  and 
ten  of  her  crew  who  jumped  overboard  were  drowned.  The 
rest  of  the  crew  were  taken  off  by  a  patrol  boat,  and  the  Gulf- 
light  was  towed  into  Crow  Sound  and  beached. 

The  attack  was  made  on  Saturday,  the  first  of  May,  and  on 
that  day  this  notice  appeared  in  the  newspapers : 

"NOTICE! 

"Travelers  intending  to  embark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage  are 
reminded  that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  Germany  and  her 
allies  and  Great  Britain  and  her  allies;  that  the  zone  of  war 
includes  the  waters  adjacent  to  the  British  Isles;  that,  in  ac- 
cordance with  formal  notice  given  by  the  Imperial  German 
Government,  vessels  flying  the  flag  of  Great  Britain,  or  of  any 
of  her  allies,  are  liable  to  destruction  in  those  waters  and  that 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  87 

travelers  sailing  in  the  war  zone  on  ships  of  Great  Britain  or 
her  allies  do  so  at  their  own  risk. 

"IMPERIAL  GERMAN  EMBASSY, 
"Washington,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1915." 

The  story  of  the  origin  of  that  famous  notice  has  since  been 
told  by  Mr.  John  R.  Rathom,  Editor  of  the  Providence  Jour- 
nal. When  the  war  opened  in  1914,  and  spread  from  nation 
to  nation,  Mr.  Rathom,  convinced  that  the  German  Government 
would  at  once  begin  an  organized  propaganda  to  consolidate  the 
German-Americans  in  the  United  States  and  that  in  this  at- 
tempt Germany  would  stop  at  nothing,  determined  to  discover 
the  plots  and  activities  of  the  German  and  Austrian  officials 
in  the  United  States,  and  succeeded  in  placing  secretly  a  dozen 
trusted  agents  in  as  many  important  German  and  Austrian 
offices.  One  secured  a  post  in  the  German  Embassy  in  Wash- 
ington; the  others  were  placed  in  the  German  consulates  in 
Boston,  in  New  Orleans,  in  Denver  and  St.  Louis;  in  the  Ger- 
man consulates-general  in  New  York,  Chicago  and  San  Fran- 
cisco; in  the  Austrian  consulate  in  Cleveland  and  in  the  Aus- 
trian consulates-general  in  New  York,  Chicago  and  Philadel- 
phia. From  these  men  came,  almost  daily,  documents  and  re- 
ports which  revealed  every  phase  of  scores  of  German  plots, 
great  and  small,  and  every  phase  of  German  propaganda,  and 
furnished  evidence  which  drove  more  than  one  German  official 
out  of  the  country  or  sent  him  to  jail.1 

But  the  Providence  Journal  also  maintained  a  wireless  sta- 
tion which  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  April  29,  1915, 
caught  a  code  message  from  Nauen  to  Sayville,  which  read : 

"From  Berlin  Foreign  Office, 

To  Botschaft,  Washington. 

669  (44-W)  Welt  nineteen  fifteen  warne  175,  29,  1  stop 
175  1  2  stop  durch  622  2  4  stop  19  7  18  stop  LIX  11  3  4  5  6." 

It  created,  Mr.  Rathom  states  in  his  account  in  the  World's 
Work,  "great  interest  in  the  Journal  office  because  it  followed 

1  For  the  story  of  the  work  of  Mr.  Rathom  and  his  men  see  the  World'* 
Work,  December.  1917,  February,  March,  etc.,  1918. 


88       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

none  of  the  known  codes  and  in  form  was  unlike  any  other 
message  that  had  been  received  at  Sayville  up  to  that  time." 
"Every  attempt  to  decipher  it  failed  until  somebody  with  a  line 
on  the  internal  activities  of  the  German  Embassy  remembered 
that  on  the  morning  of  April  29  Prince  Hatzfeldt  had  been 
hunting  for  a  New  York  World  Almanac.  The  first  two  words 
of  the  message  'Welt  1915'  supplied  the  clue  and,  following 
the  numbers  as  representing  page,  line,  and  word  in  the  World 
Almanac,  the  Journal  men  decoded  the  message  as  follows: 
'Warn  Lusitania  passenger  (s)  through  press  not  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic.' " 

The  notice,  dated  April  22,  was  sent  on  that  day  by  the 
Councilor  of  the  German  Embassy  to  an  advertising  agent 
in  Washington  with  the  request  to  "have  it  printed  as  an  ad- 
vertisement in  the  newspapers  on  the  enclosed  list  once  a  week 
during  the  next  three  or  four  weeks,"  and  May  1,  with  the  date 
April  22  unchanged,  it  was  inserted  in  the  newspapers  under 
the  advertisement  of  the  Cunard  Line,  giving  notice  of  the  sail- 
ing of  the  Lusitania  on  May  1.  The  warning  was  general.  No 
vessel  was  named ;  but  the  wireless  message  shows  that  the  Lusir 
tania  had  been  deliberately  chosen  for  destruction  and  that  it 
was  her  passengers  that  were  to  be  warned. 

No  official  at  Washington  would  comment  on  the  attack  on 
the  Cushing  and  Gulflight.  But  coming  so  soon  after  the  cau- 
tion of  the  German  Embassy,  and  despite  the  President's  notice 
to  Germany,  they  were  admitted  to  form  the  most  serious  inci- 
dent that  had  arisen  between  the  United  States  and  any  bel- 
ligerent. The  President  had  told  the  German  Government  that 
"if  the  commanders  of  German  vessels  of  war  should  act  upon 
the  presumption  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  not  being 
used  in  good  faith  and  should  destroy  on  the  high  seas  an  Amer- 
ican vessel,  or  the  lives  of  American  citizens,  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  view  the  act 
in  any  other  light  than  as  an  indefensible  violation  of  neutral 
rights." 

Did  not  the  attack  on  the  Gulflight  and  the  consequent  loss 
of  life  constitute  "an  indefensible  violation  of  neutrality"  ? 
But  the  Government  must  make  sure  of  the  facts.  The  Secre- 
tary of  State  pointed  out  that  the  American  consul  at  Plym- 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  89 

outh,  England,  in  reporting  the  attack  on  the  Gulflight  did  not 
give  his  authority,  and  that  his  message  read  as  if  he  were  re- 
porting on  information  given  by  another.  A  full  report  would 
therefore  be  called  for,  from  the  consul,  and  Ambassador 
Gerard  would  be  instructed  to  make  inquiry  of  the  German 
Government. 

By  many  of  our  countrymen  meantime  the  attack  was  re- 
garded as  justifying  a  suspicion  that  the  German  Government 
was  making  persistent  efforts  to  irritate  the  United  States.  Re- 
cent occurrences  led  to  the  belief  that  Germany  had  begun  to 
show  her  resentment  because  of  the  shipment  of  arms  to  her 
enemies,  and  the  widespread  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  the 
Allies.  The  von  Bernstorff  note,  the  manner  of  its  publication, 
and  the  warning  to  Americans  not  to  take  passage  on  ships  un- 
der the  flags  of  Great  Britain  or  any  of  her  Allies,  all  pointed, 
it  was  said,  to  such  animosity  on  the  part  of  Germany.  What 
was  she  doing?  Why  should  she  spend  so  much  money  in 
trying  to  gain  the  support  and  sympathy  of  America  and  then 
by  official  acts  and  utterances  deliberately  injure  her  cause? 
Did  Germany  now  think  that  threats  would  succeed  where 
pleadings  had  failed?  Was  she  seeking  the  enmity  of  the 
whole  world  as  a  good  reason  for  peace? 

The  meaning  of  the  warning  notice  from  the  German  Em- 
bassy printed  in  the  newspapers  of  May  1  and  repeated  in 
many  of  them  on  May  8,  now  became  apparent.  On 
May  1  the  Cunard  mail  steamship  Lusitania  sailed  from 
New  York,  with  1,251  passengers  and  a  crew  of  667.  On  May 
7,  when  eight  miles  off  Old  Head  of  Kinsale,  or  the  south 
coast  of  .Ireland,  she  was  struck  by  two  torpedoes  discharged 
from  a  German  submarine,  and  in  a  few  minutes  foundered 
and  went  down  bow  first.  No  warning  was  given.  Many  of 
the  passengers  were  at  luncheon;  but  in  the  few  minutes  be- 
fore she  sank  such  as  could  found  a  refuge  in  ten  life  boats. 
The  wireless  operator  sent  call  after  call  for  help,  and  tugs, 
steam  trawlers,  every  available  vessel  was  hurried  from  Queens- 
town.  Of  the  1,918  human  beings  on  board  1,153  were 
drowned.  Of  the  188  Americans,  114  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren lost  their  lives.  Among  them  were  many  men  well  known 
in  their  walks  in  life. 


90       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

No  event  since  the  sinking  of  the  Maine  so  stirred  the  coun- 
try. A  cry  of  mingled  horror  and  rage  rose  from  every  part 
of  it.  Beyond  all  doubt,  it  was  said,  the  destruction  of  the 
Lusitania  was  carefully  and  deliberately  planned.  The  warn- 
ing notice  in  the  newspapers  it  now  appears  had  been  preceded 
by  anonymous  letters  and  telephone  messages  to  many  of  the 
passengers.  American  citizens  traveling  peacefully  had  been 
sent  to  their  death  by  the  deliberately  planned  act  of  Em- 
peror William  and  his  advisers.  America  must  and  will  resent 
this  invasion  of  her  rights.  The  Government  is  in  duty  bound, 
emphatically,  without  shrinking  from  the  proper  epithets,  to 
denounce  the  greatest  international  outrage  of  modern  times. 

By  the  German  language  press  the  deed  was  justified.  Said 
one  journal,  War  is  war.  A  nation  forced  to  fight  for  life 
against  a  world  of  enemies  should  not  be  guided  by  sentiment. 
The  Lusitania,  loaded  to  its  capacity  with  explosives,  ammuni- 
tion, war  material,  was,  to  the  Germans,  a  warship.  To  accept 
passengers  under  such  circumstances  was  a  crime  of  the  worst 
kind.  Considering  the  character  of  the  cargo,  some  of  it  was 
picric  and  liable  to  explode  at  the  slightest  shock,  it  may  well 
be  that  an  inside  explosion  wrought  the  destruction  of  the 
Lusitania.  Survivors  tell  of  asphyxiating  gases.  Torpedoes 
do  not  produce  them,  but  they  can  be  traced  back  to  the  horrible 
explosives  in  the  hold.  Does  not  this  show  that  it  was  simply 
an  atrocious  crime  to  carry  men,  women  and  children  in  such 
a  ship?  If  Americans  wish  to  go  to  Europe  and  use  neutral 
vessels  not  carrying  contraband  of  war  they  will  be  perfectly 
safe. 

Another,  the  Cincinnati  Freie  Presse,  remarked  that  the 
Lusitania  was  a  British,  not  an  American,  ship ;  that  American 
passengers  knew  their  lives  were  in  danger  because  they  had 
been  warned;  that  having  taken  the  risk  after  ample  warning, 
there  was  no  cause  for  complaint  now  that  the  ship  was  sunk 
and  lives  lost.  Said  a  third,  the  Chicago  Abendpost,  responsi- 
bility for  the  loss  of  the  Lusitania  and  American  lives  rests 
with  Great  Britain.  The  steamer,  armed,  commanded  by  a 
naval  officer,  freighted  with  ammunition,  was  clearly  subject 
to  attack  within  the  war  zone. 

When  the  news  was  carried  by  a  reporter  to  the  office  of 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  91 

the  German  consul  in  Philadelphia  it  was  received  with  cheers. 
German-Americans  everywhere  found  the  sinking  of  the  ship 
a  cause  for  rejoicing.  The  passengers  who  were  drowned,  they 
held,  should  not  have  been  on  board. 

Dr.  Dernburg,  now  accepted  as  the  Kaiser's  spokesman  in 
America,  took  this  view  of  the  matter.  "Any  ship,"  he  said 
in  an  interview,  "carrying  goods  to  Great  Britain  is  to  be 
sunk."  It  was  "the  usage  of  war  that  vessels  could  be  stopped, 
seized  and  searched.  Vessels  that  carried  contraband  could  be 
destroyed  if  they  could  not  be  taken  into  port.  It  has  been 
customary  to  give  innocent  people  warning  and  a  chance  to 
get  away.  A  submarine  is  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long;  it  has  no  accommodations  for  others  than  its  crew  of 
probably  twenty-four  men.  Consequently  it  is  unable  to  take 
off  passengers." 

"Any  American  traveling  on  an  American  boat  under  the 
American  flag  will  be  safe.  There  are,  moreover,  any  number 
of  neutral  ships.  There  is  also  this  condition,  an  American 
ship  or  any  other  neutral  vessel  must  carry  no  munitions  of 
war.  It  is  easy  for  an  American  who  wants  to  travel  to  find 
out  what  a  ship  carries.  All  ships  make  their  manifests  to 
the  Custom  House  and  they  are  public. 

"Everybody  takes  a  risk  if  they  want  to.  Anybody  can 
commit  suicide  if  they  want  to. 

"We  have  done  and  will  do  the  best  we  can  to  avoid  such 
trouble,  but  we  cannot  allow  Americans  to  be  used  as  shields 
to  get  articles  of  war  into  the  hands  of  its  Allies.  The  death 
of  the  Americans  might  have  been  avoided  if  our  warning  had 
been  heeded.  We  put  in  advertisements  and  were  careful  to 
put  them  in  next  the  advertisements  of  the  Cunard  Line's 
sailing  dates." 

As  feeling  rose  higher  and  higher,  What  will  the  Govern- 
ment do  ?  was  asked  on  every  hand.  Some  thought  Congress 
should  be  assembled  as  quickly  as  possible.  Some  thought 
the  German  Ambassador  should  at  once  be  handed  his  pass- 
ports. Others  were  for  a  declaration  of  war  against  Germany. 
Senators  and  Representatives  when  asked  by  the  New  York 
Times  and  Philadelphia  Ledger  for  their  views  advised  the 
people  to  bo  calm,  and  forego  hasty  action  while  the  facts  were 


92       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

investigated.  "Every  one  should  recognize  the  folly  of  urging 
hasty  or  precipitate  action."  "The  situation  does  not  call  for 
the  assembly  of  Congress."  "The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  is 
an  awful  thing  to  contemplate,  and  the  feeling  of  resentment 
may  raise  our  blood  to  the  boiling  point.  But  let  us  place  our 
confidence  in  the  President  of  the  United  States.  He  has  kept 
us  free  from  entangling  alliances  so  far."  "Let  us  handle  the 
present  situation  with  patience  and  calmness,  trusting  to  the 
President  to  take  the  proper  course." 

As  soon  as  possible  the  German  Foreign  Office  dispatched  a 
note  to  the  Embassy  to  be  delivered  to  Secretary  Bryan. 

The  German  Government  [the  note  reads]  desires  to  express  its 
deepest  sympathy  at  the  loss  of  lives  on  board  the  Lusitani^.  The 
responsibility  rests,  however,  with  the  British  Government,  which, 
through  its  plan  of  starving  the  civilian  population  of  Germany,  has 
forced  Germany  to  resort  to  retaliating  measures. 

In  spite  of  the  German  offer  to  stop  the  submarine  war  in  case 
the  starvation  plan  was  given  up,  British  merchant  vessels  are  being 
generally  armed  with  guns,  and  have  repeatedly  tried  to  ram  subma- 
rines, so  tbat  a  previous  search  was  impossible.  [Moreover,  the 
Lusitania  on  her  last  voyage  "carried  5,400  cases  of  ammunition,  while 
the  rest  of  the  cargo  consisted  chiefly  of  contraband."] 

If  England,  after  repeated  official  and  unofficial  warnings,  consid- 
ered herself  able  to  declare  that  that  boat  ran  no  risk,  and  thus  ligbt- 
heartedly  assume  responsibility  for  the  human  life  on  board  a 
steamship  which,  owing  to  its  armament  and  cargo,  was  liable  to 
destruction,  the  German  Government,  in  spite  of  its  heartfelt  sym- 
pathy for  the  loss  of  American  lives,  cannot  but  regret  that  Americans 
felt  more  inclined  to  trust  to  English  promises  than  to  pay  attention 
to  the  warnings  from  the  German  side. 

Two  months  after  this  note  was  received,  July  17,  the 
Providence  Journal  announced  that  from  translations  of  Say- 
ville  wireless  messages  in  its  possession  it  appeared  that  the 
warning  was  not  only  sent  out  by  the  German  Embassy,  but  the 
very  text  was  provided  by  the  Admiralty,  and  it  "was  sent  out 
from  Berlin  six  days  before  it  actually  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers." "The  message  also  shows  that  the  first  official  knowl- 
edge in  the  possession  of  the  German  Government  as  to  the 
character  of  the  cargo  of  the  Lusitania  reached  it  three  days 
after  that  ship  was  sunk. 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  93 

"On  May  10,  the  following  message  was  sent  over  the 
Sayville  wireless  station  by  Captain  Boy-Ed  to  the  head  of  the 
Admiralty  Department  in  Berlin: 

'Tour  message  of  the  thirtieth  of  April  was  given  to  American 
travelers  in  all  important  newspapers  in  the  United  States,  warn- 
ing them  from  the  war  zone  and  the  use  of  English  steamers.  The 
Lusitania  had  5,400  cases  of  ammunition  on  board  and  her  cargo 
was  almost  exclusively  contraband,  with  a  total  value  of  about 
3,000,000  marks." 

The  note  from  the  Foreign  Office  served  but  to  confirm  the 
belief  that  the  Lusitania  had  been  deliberately  chosen  for 
destruction,  that  the  attack  had  been  carefully  planned,  and 
that  the  notice  had  been  given  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
enable  the  German  Government  to  say  that  American  lives 
would  not  have  been  lost  had  American  travelers  paid  "atten- 
tion to  the  warnings  from  the  German  side."  To  this  the  New 
York  "World  answered:  "The  fact  that  A  formally  announces 
his  intention  to  murder  B  at  three  o'clock  to-morrow  after- 
noon does  not  make  the  subsequent  murder  of  B  an  innocent 
or  justifiable  act."  At  Kinsale,  the  coroner's  jury  which  inves- 
tigated the  cause  of  the  deaths  from  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania, in  its  verdict  said:  "We  also  charge  the  officers  of  said 
submarine  and  the  Emperor  and  Government  of  Germany, 
under  whose  orders  they  acted,  with  the  crime  of  wholesale 
murder  before  the  tribunal  of  the  civilized  world." 

A  resolution  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
Pennsylvania  described  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  its 
attendant  horrors  as  "a  deed  unknown  by  the  laws  of  war,  or 
the  principles  of  civilization,"  and  an  "affront  to  the  American 
nation,"  such  as  called  for  action  to  obtain  reparation;  con- 
demned the"  action  of  the  German  nation  as  "a  dastardly  deed 
worthy  of  none  save  a  barbarous  and  uncivilized  nation,"  and 
demanded  an  apology  from  Germany,  full  reparation  for  the 
loss  of  American  lives  and  property,  and  guarantees  that  such 
"a  cowardly  action  will  never  again  be  permitted  by  it  to 
occur."  A  resolution  introduced  into  the  Pennsylvania  Senate 
declared  that  the  Imperial  German  Government,  by  the  sinking 
of  the  Frye,  by  the  drowning  of  Mr.  Thrasher  on  the  Faldba> 


91       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

by  the  sinking  of  the  Gulfliglit,  and  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania, had  shown  its  utter  indifference  to  the  safety  of  the  lives 
and  property  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  pledged  the 
support  of  the  Commonwealth  to  the  President  in  any  measures 
he  might  take  to  uphold  the  honor,  dignity  and  safety  of  the 
nation. 

In  Tennessee,  resolutions  of  support  were  also  adopted.  At 
New  York  City,  the  sons  of  political  leaders  and  of  men  fore- 
most in  professional  life  signed  a  message  to  the  President 
stating  their  conviction  "that  national  interests  and  honor  im- 
peratively require  adequate  measures  both  to  secure  reparation 
for  the  past  violations  by  Germany  of  American  rights  and 
secure  guarantees  against"  violations  in  the  future. 

On  the  tenth  of  May  the  President  came  to  Philadelphia 
for  the  especial  purpose  of  addressing  some  four  thousand 
newly  naturalized  citizens  on  the  duties,  responsibilities  and 
privileges  of  American  citizenship.  The  occasion  was  made  a 
great  one.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Convention  Hall,  was 
presided  over  by  the  Mayor  of  the  city  and,  besides  the  four 
thousand  new  citizens,  those  gathered  in  the  hall  numbered 
some  sixteen  thousand.  That  the  President  would  use  the 
occasion  to  speak  on  the  nation's  foreign  relations  was  fully 
expected.  He  made  no  allusion  to  the  Lusitania,  he  spoke 
solely  to  the  new  citizens,  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  used 
some  expressions  which  went  round  the  world. 

"The  example  of  America,"  he  said,  "must  be  a  special 
example.  The  example  of  America  must  be  an  example  not 
of  peace  because  it  will  not  fight,  but  of  peace  because  peace  is 
the  healing  and  elevating  influence  of  the  world  and  strife  is 
not.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too  proud  to  fight. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does  not 
need  to  convince  others  by  force  that  it  is  right."  • 

The  words  "too  proud  to  fight"  were  understood  both  at 
home  and  abroad  to  refer  to  the  Lusitania  crime,  and  to  define 
the  policy  of  the  President  towards  Germany.  Under  no  cir- 
cumstances will  the  Government  permit  its  indignation  over 
the  drowning  of  Americans  on  the  Lusitania  to  lead  to  war  with 
Germany,  was  the  common  interpretation.  This  was  not  his 
meaning,  the  President  told  callers  who  came  to  the  White 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  95 

House  on  the  day  after  the  speech.  He  did  not,  he  said,  con- 
sider the  Philadelphia  meeting  a  proper  occasion  on  which  to 
give  any  intimation  of  policy  on  any  special  matter.  He  was 
denning  a  personal  attitude,  but  did  not  have  anything  specific 
in  mind. 

"President  Wilson,"  said  the  London  Evening  Standard, 
"is  a  high-minded  man  and  we  can  understand  what  he  meant 
by  this  rather  unpolitical  remark — 'too  proud  to  fight.'  Un- 
fortunately, Germany  does  not  understand  this  kind  of  right- 
eousness." The  London  Star  thought  the  words  meant  that 
"the  guilt  of  those  who  murdered  American  citizens  on  board 
the  Lusitania  is  so  manifest  that  America  can  rely  on  the 
righteousness  of  her  cause  without  drawing  the  sword  to  defend 
it."  All  England  was  waiting  to  see  what  the  President  would 
do,  and  so  was  all  America.  There  were  those  who  insisted 
that  Germany  must  be  held  to  "strict  accountability,"  as  threat- 
ened in  the  note  of  February  10.  There  were  those  who  held 
"strict  accountability"  should  apply  only  when  American  ships 
were  sunk  and  not  when  Americans  lost  their  lives  because 
of  the  sinking  of  a  merchant  ship  under  the  flag  of  a  belligerent. 
There  were  those  who  wished  to  see  diplomatic  relations  broken 
at  once ;  there  were  those  who  stood  for  "peace-at-any-price," 
and  there  were  those  who  insisted  that  we  prepare  at  once  for 
the  war  which  was  sure  to  come. 

On  May  13,  the  Department  of  State  made  public  the  first 
Lusitania  note,  the  first  also  of  a  series  of  notes  in  which  the 
President  stated  and  defended  the  principles  of  neutrality. 

Because  of  the  recent  act  of  German  authorities  in  viola- 
tion of  American  rights  on  the  high  seas,  the  note  said,  it  was 
clearly  desirable  that  both  Governments  come  to  a  "full  under- 
standing as  to  the  grave  situation  which  has  resulted."  The 
sinking  of  the  Falaba,  the  aeroplane  attack  on  the  Gushing, 
the  torpedoing  of  the  Gulflight,  the  destruction  of  the  Lusi- 
tania, formed  "a  series  of  events  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  had  observed  with  growing  concern,  distress  and 
amazement." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  "was  loath  to  be- 
lieve— it  cannot  now  bring  itself  to  believe — that  these  acts  so 
contrary"  to  the  rules,  practices  and  spirit  of  modern  warfare 


96       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

could  be  sanctioned  by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  and 
felt  in  duty  bound  "to  address  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment concerning  them  with  the  utmost  frankness." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  had  been  informed 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  felt  compelled  "by  the 
extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  present  war,  and  the  meas- 
ures adopted  by  their  adversaries  in  seeking  to  cut  Germany  off 
from  all  commerce,  to  adopt  methods  of  retaliation  which  go 
much  beyond  the  ordinary  methods  of  warfare  at  sea,  in  the 
proclamation  of  a  war  zone  from  which  they  have  warned  neu- 
tral ships  to  keep  away." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  had  already  informed 
the  Imperial  German  Government  that  it  could  not  "admit  the 
adoption  of  such  measures  or  such  a  warning  of  danger  to 
operate  as  in  any  degree  an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  of 
American  shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens  bound  on  lawful 
errands  as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent  nation- 
ality; and  that  it  must  hold  the  Imperial  German  Government 
to  a  strict  accountability  for  any  infringement  of  those  rights, 
intentional  or  accidental."  These  rights  it  did  not  understand 
the  German  Government  to  question.  On  the  contrary,  it 
assumed  that  the  German  Government  "accept  as  of  course  the 
rule  that  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  whether  they  be  of  neu- 
tral citizenship  or  citizens  of  one  of  the  nations  at  war,  cannot 
lawfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruction  of 
an  unarmed  merchantman,  and  recognize  also,  as  all  other 
nations  do,  the  obligation  to  take  the  usual  precaution  of  visit 
and  search  to  ascertain  whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in 
fact  of  belligerent  nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband 
of  war  under  a  neutral  flag." 

Objection  to  this  method  of  attadk,  by  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government,  on  "the  trade  of  their  enemies"  lay  in  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  possible  to  use  submarines  to  destroy  com- 
merce without  "disregarding  those  rules  of  fairness,  justice  and 
humanity  which  all  modern  opinion  regards  as  imperative." 
It  was  "impossible  for  the  officers  of  a  submarine  to  visit  a 
merchantman  at  sea  and  examine  her  papers  and  cargo,"  or 
make  a  prize  of  her,  or  put  a  prize  crew  aboard,  or  "sink  her 
without  leaving  her  crew  and  all  on  board  of  her  to  the  mercy 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  97 

of  the  sea  in  her  small  boats.  These  facts  it  is  understood  the 
Imperial  German  Government  frankly  admit."  In  the  cases 
of  the  Falaba,  the  Gushing,  the  Gulflight  and  the  Lusitania, 
"even  that  poor  measure  of  safety  was  not  given,  and  in  at  least 
two  of  the  cases  cited  not  so  much  as  a  warning  was  received." 

Recently  there  had  been  published  in  newspapers  in  the 
United  States  a  warning,  "purporting  to  come  from  the  Impe- 
rial German  Embassy,"  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  stating  in  effect  that  if  they  exercised  their  "right  of 
free  travel  upon  the  seas"  they  did  so  at  their  peril  if  they 
entered  the  war  zone.  Reference  was  not  made  to  this  in  order 
to  call  attention  "to  the  surprising  irregularity  of  a  communi- 
cation from  the  Imperial  German  Embassy  at  Washington 
addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the  news- 
papers," but  to  point  out  "that  no  warning  that  an  unlawful 
and  inhuman  act  will  be  committed  can  possibly  be  accepted 
as  an  excuse  or  palliation  for  that  act  or  as  an  abatement  of  the 
responsibility  for  its  commission." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  could  not  believe  that 
these  "acts  of  lawlessness"  were  done  by  submarine  commanders 
save  "under  a  misapprehension"  of  orders,  and  confidently 
expected,  therefore,  "that  the  Imperial  German  Government 
will  disavow  the  acts  of  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  complains,  that  they  will  make  reparation,  so  far  as 
reparation  is  possible,  for  injuries  which  are  without  measure, 
and  that  they  will  take  immediate  steps  to  prevent  the  recur- 
rence of  anything  so  obviously  subversive  of  the  principles  of 
warfare."  Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of  reparation  for 
the  destruction  of  neutral  vessels  sunk  by  mistake  might  satisfy 
international  obligations  when  no  lives  were  lost.  They  could 
not  justify  a  practice  the  effect  of  which  was  "to  subject  neu- 
tral nations  and  neutral  persons  to  new  and  unmeasurable 
risks." 

"The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not  expect  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act 
necessary  to  the  performance  of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintain- 
ing the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens  and  of  safe- 
guarding their  free  exercise  and  enjoyment." 

By  our  countrymen  in  general  the  note  was  heartily  ap- 


98       THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

proved.  The  President,  it  was  said,  has  spoken  and  spoken  to 
the  point.  Germany  cannot  have  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  his 
meaning.  It  is  to  be  held  to  "strict  accountability"  as  he 
promised  it  should  be.  Truly  it  can  no  longer  expect  "the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  work  or  any  act 
necessary  to  the  performance  of  the  sacred  duty  of  maintain- 
ing the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens,  and  safe- 
guarding their  safe  exercise  and  enjoyment."  This  was  not 
a  threat,  unless  Germany  chose  to  so  consider  it.  The  whole 
country  resounded  with  approval  of  the  note.  Governors  of 
the  States,  Senators,  Representatives,  public  men  in  response 
to  newspaper  queries,  declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  Ameri- 
can to  support  the  President  in  the  firm  stand  he  had  taken. 
Here  and  there  a  Senator  declined  to  express  an  opinion  or 
dreaded  war.  One  from  Nebraska  "would  not  be  willing  to  go 
to  war  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  American  citizens  the 
right  to  travel  in  the  war  zone  on  an  English  ship  loaded  with 
arms  and  ammunition."  Another  from  California  declared 
that,  unless  we  were  prepared  to  go  to  war,  "the  protest  will 
prove  to  be  an  idle  thing."  He  did  "not  believe  our  people 
are  ready  to  go  to  war  with  Germany  for  such  a  cause."  It 
"would  be  much  better  for  us  to  stop  sending  munitions  of  war 
to  the  belligerents  and  be  what  we  loudly  proclaimed  ourselves 
to  be,  strictly  neutral.  It  is  this  violation  of  the  spirit  of  neu- 
trality that  has  made  most  of  the  trouble." 

The  leading  newspapers,  north,  south,  east  and  west,  with 
scarce  an  exception,  in  editorials,  approved  the  tone  and  tenor 
of  the  note.  The  German-language  press  gave  the  President 
no  support.  Said  the  Chicago  Staats-Z 'eitung : 

The  jingo  Anglo- American  press  is  doing  its  utmost  to  arouse  the 
public  to  make  a  demonstration  against  Germany.  Let  the  Americans 
consider  what  war  would  mean.  War  on  Germany  by  this  country 
would  give  Japan  free  rein  to  seize  the  Philippines  and  become  mis- 
tress of  the  Orient.  What  has  been  claimed  for  several  months  past, 
that  this  great  Eepublic  is  the  ally  of  England  in  fact,  if  not  in  name, 
now  seems  to  be  fully  established. 

Said  the  Cincinnati  Freie  Presse: 

The  part  of  the  note  dealing  with  the  loss  of  lives  in  the  Lusitania 
catastrophe  more  properly  ought  to  have  been  addressed  to  London. 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  99 

England  alone  is  responsible  for  the  Lusitania  destruction  through 
her  brutal  threat  to  starve  a  nation.  We  are  not  obliged  and  have 
no  right  to  set  ourselves  up  as  the  protectors  of  British  shipping. 

The  Louisville  Anzeiger  agreed  with  the  President  that 
the  German  Government  should  "explain  the  loss  of  lives  of 
American  passengers,"  but  did  "not  think  that  the  loss  of 
American  lives  gives  the  President  the  right  to  demand  the 
cessation  of  Germany's  undersea  warfare  against  British  com- 
merce." The  Cincinnati  Volksblatt  found  the  note  "disap- 
pointing in  that  it  disregards  the  just  complaints  of  Germany 
and  appears  to  espouse  the  cause  of  Great  Britain."  The 
Indianapolis  Telegraph-Tribune  thought  it  impossible  for  Ger- 
many "to  comply  with  the  President's  extravagant  demand, 
which  amounts  to  German  disarmament  on  the  seas.  All  that 
will  be  required  to  safeguard  British  armed  merchantmen 
carrying  contraband  will  be  to  put  passengers,  preferably 
Americans,  on  board  and  they  will  be  immune  from  attacks  of 
German  submarines.  It  is  a  palpable  injustice  of  President 
Wilson  to  demand  that  Germany  should  lay  aside  its  most 
effective  weapon  of  attack." 

The  St.  Paul  Volkszeitung  was  glad  to  see  the  President 
"take  such  a  strong  stand  for  upholding  the  rights  of  American 
citizens"  and  hoped  he  would  "demand  that  hereafter  all  coun- 
tries will  respect  our  rights  to  the  sacred  freedom  of  the  seas." 

A  rumor  from  Washington  that  the  German  Embassy  had 
allowed  it  to  be  known  that  the  Imperial  Government  would 
not  accept  the  proposals  made  by  the  President  was  now  offi- 
cially denied  by  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff.  Another  that  the 
Ambassador  intended  to  warn  editors  of  German  newspapers 
to  modify  their  editorial  comment,  because  of  strained  rela- 
tions with  Germany,  was  scoffed  at  by  the  editors  concerned. 
Another  that,  because  of  speeches  and  statements  made  in  justi- 
fication of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  Dr.  Dernburg  was 
about  to  leave  the  United  States,  the  German  Embassy  admitted 
was  true.  "He  is  leaving  of  his  own  volition.  I  do  not  know 
where  he  is  going,"  said  the  Ambassador. 

Feeling  in  Germany,  as  expressed  in  the  newspapers  by 
prominent  men,  was  that  if  the  United  States  could  so  arrange 


100     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

it  that  British  merchant  ships  no  longer  sailed  under  false 
flags,  were  no  longer  armed,  and  that  contraband  goods  were 
no  longer  protected  by  American  passengers,  the  United  States 
would  find  Germany  on  her  side  in  the  effort  to  make  sub- 
marine war  more  humane.  If  America  could  not  do  this,  she 
must  put  up  with  the  submarine  war  as  waged.  The  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania,  it  was  hoped,  would  teach  neutrals  not  to 
travel  on  British  vessels.  She  must  take  care  that  her  citizens 
avoid  the  war  zone  as  they  would  the  firing  lines  near  Arras, 
Lisle  or  Przemysl. 

To  the  German  Government  the  destruction  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  and  the  loss  of  lives  was  a  great  event.  Berlin  and  other 
cities  were  decked  with  flags,  the  school  children  were  given 
a  holiday  and  a  medal  was  struck  to  commemorate  the  event 
and  sold  by  thousands  to  the  people.  On  one  side  was  a  rude 
representation  of  the  Lusitania  sinking  into  the  sea,  and  the 
words,  "No  contraband.  The  liner  Lusitania  sunk  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  May  5,  1915."  On  the  other  was  a  long  line 
of  travelers  waiting  their  turn  to  buy  tickets  at  a  Cunard  Com- 
pany's window,  behind  which  stood  Death  as  the  ticket  agent, 
and  the  words,  "Business  as  usual." 

Attention  at  home  and  overseas  was  now  drawn  from  the 
Lusitania  and  the  American  note  to  the  entrance  of  Italy  into 
the  war.  Her  declaration  against  Austria  was  made  on  May  23, 
and  our  countrymen  were  expectantly  waiting  for  what  was 
to  happen  when  the  newspapers  reported  that  on  May  25  the 
American  steamship  Nebraskan  on  her  way  from  Liverpool  to 
the  Delaware  Breakwater,  in  ballast,  had  been  attacked  some 
forty  miles  west  southwest  of  Fastnet,  Ireland,  and  a  huge 
hole  blown  in  her  bow.  ISTo  warning  was  given  and  the  Cap- 
tain saw  no  submarine,  but  he  was  sure  the  vessel  had  been 
torpedoed  and  had  not  struck  a  mine.  The  flag  was  down, 
for  it  was  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  the  explosion 
occurred ;  but  it  was  still  light  and  the  name  of  the  vessel  was 
painted,  in  letters  six  feet  high,  on  each  of  her  sides. 

The  crew  took  to  the  boats,  stood  by  for  a  couple  of  hours, 
and  then  returned  to  the  Nebraskan  and  about  half-past  ten 
headed  her  for  Liverpool.  At  half-past  one  in  the  morning 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  101 

she  fell  in  with  two  vessels  sent  to  her  aid  in  response  to  a 
wireless  call.  One  of  them  went  with  her  to  port. 

Our  countrymen  were  astonished.  That  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, in  the  face  of  the  excitement  in  America,  should 
permit  a  submarine  to  attack  an  American  vessel  and  endan- 
ger the  lives  of  an  American  captain  and  an  American  crew, 
was  almost  unbelievable,  unless  Germany  intended  to  drive  us 
into  war.  Again  feeling  rose  high,  and  was  not  allayed  when 
on  May  31  the  Secretary  of  State  made  public  the  reply  of 
von  Jagow. 

The  American  Embassy,  he  said,  in  the  cases  of  the  Gulf- 
light  and  Gushing,  had  been  informed  that  the  German  Gov- 
ernment had  no  intention  of  submitting  neutral  vessels,  guilty 
of  no  hostile  acts,  to  attack  in  the  war  zone  by  submarines  or 
airships.  If  neutral  ships  had  suffered  through  submarine 
warfare  because  of  mistakes  in  identification,  it  was  the  fault 
of  Great  Britain's  abuse  of  flags  and  the  suspicious  or  culpable 
behavior  of  the  masters  of  the  ships.  Whenever  a  neutral  ship, 
not  itself  at  fault,  had  been  damaged  by  German  submarines 
or  aviators,  the  German  Government  had  expressed  regret  and 
offered  indemnity. 

The  Gushing  and  the  Gulflight  would  be  treated  in  this 
manner.  An  investigation  was  then  under  way  and  it  could, 
if  necessary,  be  supplemented  by  an  appeal  to  the  Hague 
Tribunal.  The  commander  of  the  submarine  which  sank  the 
Falaba  intended  to  give  the  passengers  and  crew  time  to  escape. 
Only  when  the  master  tried  to  escape  and  summoned  help  by 
rocket  signals  did  the  submarine  commander  order  the  passen- 
gers and  crew  to  leave  the  Falaba  in  ten  minutes.  He  really 
gave  twenty-three  minutes  and  fired  the  torpedo  only  when  sus- 
picious craft  were  hastening  to  her  aid. 

For  the  loss  of  life  occasioned  by  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  the  German  Government  had  "already  expressed  to  the 
neutral  governments  concerned  its  keen  regret." 

The  United  States  assumed  that  the  Lusitania  was  an  ordi- 
nary unarmed  merchantman.  The  Lusitania  in  reality  was 
one  of  the  largest  and  fastest  of  British  merchant  ships,  was 
an  auxiliary  cruiser,  and  was  carried  as  such  on  the  navy  list, 
and  <fhad  cannon  aboard  which  were  mounted  and  concealed 


102     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

below  decks."  The  British  Admiralty,  moreover,  "in  a  confi- 
dential instruction  issued  in  February,  1915,  recommended  its 
mercantile  shipping  not  only  to  seek  protection  under  neutral 
flags  and  distinguishing  marks,  but  also,  while  thus  disguised, 
to  attack  German  submarines  by  ramming."  German  subma- 
rine commanders  were,  therefore,  no  longer  able  to  observe 
the  usual  "regulations  of  the  prize  law."  Finally  the  Lusi- 
tania on  her  last  trip  carried  Canadian  troops  and  war  mate- 
rial, "including  no  less  than  5,400  cases  of  ammunition 
intended  for  the  destruction  of  the  brave  German  soldiers." 
The  German  Government,  therefore,  believed  it  was  justified 
in  "seeking  with  all  the  means  of  warfare  at  its  disposal  to 
protect  the  lives  of  its  soldiers  by  destroying  ammunition 
intended  for  the  enemy." 

The  British  shipping  company,  in  taking  passengers  on 
the  Lusitania,  "attempted  deliberately  to  use  the  lives  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  as  protection  for  the  ammunition  aboard  and  acted 
against  the  clear  provisions  of  the  American  law  which 
expressly  prohibits  the  forwarding  of  passengers  on  ships  carry- 
ing ammunition  and  provides  a  penalty  therefor.  The  com- 
pany, therefore,  is  wantonly  guilty  of  the  death  of  so  many 
passengers."  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  quick  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania  was  "primarily  attributable  to  the  explosion 
of  the  ammunition  shipment  caused  by  the  torpedo.  The  Lusi- 
tania s  passengers  would  otherwise  in  all  probability  have  been 
saved." 

The  reply  was  disappointing.  The  claim  that  the  Lusitania 
was  armed  had  been  denied  by  the  Collector  of  Customs  at  New 
York.  The  statement  that  in  all  human  probability  the  pas- 
sengers would  have  been  saved  had  it  not  been  for  the  explo- 
sion of  ammunition  in  the  cargo  was  not  only  trivial  but  false. 
The  charge  that  the  Cunard  Line  and  not  the  German  Govern- 
ment was  responsible  for  the  loss  of  life  was  regarded  as  a 
quibble.  Germany  had  given  no  pledge  to  abandon  unrestricted 
submarine  warfare,  and  in  charging  the  Cunard  Line  with 
using  American  citizens  to  protect  ammunition  and  in  assert- 
ing that  the  Lusitania  was  an  auxiliary  armed  cruiser  had 
raised  new  issues. 

By  the  press  of  the  country  the  answer  was  declared  "not 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  103 

responsive  to  our  demand" ;  it  "does  not  meet  the  issue" ;  "it 
is  worse  than  evasion.  It  is  insincere";  it  "will  not  satisfy 
American  opinion" ;  "it  is  an  answer  which  purposely  does  not 
answer." 

The  German-language  press  found  the  answer  most  encour- 
aging. It  met  every  expectation  which  the  American  note 
aroused;  was  courteous,  logical,  straightforward;  touched  all 
matters  having  to  do  with  the  violation  of  American  neutral 
rights;  did  not  discuss  Germany's  methods  of  submarine  war 
on  Great  Britain  and  her  Allies,  as  Germany  was  in  no  way 
bound  to  do.  It  showed  beyond  dispute  that  Germany  was 
most  anxious  to  live  at  peace  with  America.  Germany  wished 
to  be  shown  where  she  was  wrong,  and  fair-minded  men  would 
concede  that  the  Lusitania  being  carried  on  the  navy  list  as  an 
auxiliary  cruiser,  it  was  but  fair  to  believe  that  the  subma- 
rine's officer  supposed  her  to  be  armed. 

If  the  men  in  Washington  act  as  prosecuting  attorneys,  the 
Pittsburgh  Volksblatt  held,  it  would  be  a  great  misfortune. 
The  clamor  of  the  mob  was  to  be  avoided  "just  now  above  all 
times."  Calm  deliberation  was  our  true  policy.  The  Cin- 
cinnati Freie  Presse  believed  the  reply  showed  that  "the  hand 
is  out  for  a  settlement  of  differences."  It  did  not  say  the 
American  position  was  untenable,  but  asked  that  facts  be 
established. 

Two  days  after  the  German  note  was  made  public,  Ambas- 
sador von  Bernstorff  requested  an  interview  with  the  President. 
What  took  place  was  not  divulged.  But  the  Providence 
Journal,  "from  an  authoritative  source,"  probably  its  spy  at  the 
Embassy,  gave  what  it  claimed  to  be  "the  details  of  the  state- 
ment by  the  Ambassador."  He  was  sure  he  could  obtain  from 
the  Imperial  German  Government  certain  concessions  if  time 
permitted  before  the  President's  answer.  The  concessions  were 
that  Germany  would  stop  her  attacks  on  vessels  known  to  carry 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  if  the  American  Government 
would  suggest  to  our  citizens  that  in  future,  when  going  to 
Europe,  they  should  take  passage  on  such  ships  only  as  car- 
ried no  goods  contraband  of  war ;  that  the  German  submarines 
would  attack  no  merchant  vessels  save  such  as  were  known  to 
be  carrying  contraband  of  war;  that  this  would  be  made  easier 


104     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

if  the  President,  by  proclamation,  would  forbid  tbe  ships  of 
belligerent  nations  to  carry  as  passengers  citizens  of  the  United 
States;  and  that  if  the  United  States  would  bring  about  these 
conditions,  German  submarines  would  not  attack  any  merchant, 
neutral  or  belligerent,  carrying  passengers,  whether  the  ship  did 
or  did  not  have  contraband  goods  on  board,  without  first  giving 
passengers  and  crew  a  chance  to  seek  safety  in  boats  and  on 
rafts. 

A  statement  was  current  that  the  Ambassador  expressed 
regret  that  his  Government  was  deprived  of  means  of  getting 
confidential  reports  from  him  concerning  the  feeling  in  the 
United  States,  aroused  by  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  and 
the  determination  of  the  President  that  Germany  abandon  her 
submarine  warfare  against  merchant  ships.  The  unsatisfac- 
tory character  of  the  German  reply,  the  Ambassador  was  said 
to  have  represented,  was  due  to  his  inability  to  communicate 
with  von  Jagow.  To  this  the  Providence  Journal  replied  the 
statement  was  not  based  on  facts.  "The  Ambassador  is  not 
only  in  constant  communication  with  Berlin,  both  by  wireless 
and  cables,  but  he  actually  read  and  edited  the  von  Jagow  note 
and  sent  it  back  to  Berlin  with  some  minor  changes  made  by 
himself  before  it  was  delivered  to  Ambassador  Gerard." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  asked  permis- 
sion to  send  to  Berlin,  through  the  Department  of  State  in  the 
American  code,  a  detailed  report  on  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
the  United  States.  The  President  consented  and  approved  a 
plan  to  dispatch  a  special  envoy  of  the  German  Embassy  to 
Berlin  to  acquaint  the  German  Government  with  the  excited 
feeling  in  our  country  caused  by  the  loss  of  life  when  the 
Lusitania  went  down.  Dr.  Anton  Meyer-Gerhardt  was  chosen, 
and  sailed  June  3  under  safe  conduct  obtained  from  the  Allies. 

Not  long  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  the  German 
Ambassador  submitted  to  the  Department  of  State  four  affi- 
davits to  prove  that  the  vessel  was  armed  and  was  a  warship. 
An  investigation  by  the  District  Attorney  at  New  York  soon 
brought  to  light  the  fact  that  the  affidavits  of  Gustav  Stahl  and 
others  were  obtained  by  German  secret  service  agents,  that 
their  operations  led  directly  to  the  office  of  Captain  Boy-Ed, 
naval  attache  to  the  German  Embassy,  and  that  the  affidavit  of 


SUBMARINE  FRIGHTFULNESS  105 

Stahl,  that  he  had  visited  the  Lusitania  on  April  30  and  had 
seen  four  guns,  two  on  the  fore  deck  and  two  aft,  mounted 
on  wooden  blocks  and  covered  with  leather,  was  false.  Stahl 
was  accordingly  arrested  and  indicted  by  a  Grand  Jury  for 
perjury.  September  8  Stahl  pleaded  guilty  and  was  sent  to 
prison  for  eighteen  months. 

The  reply  of  von  Jagow  on  May  28  was  followed  on  June  1 
by  a  note  treating  of  the  cases  of  the  Gul flight  and  Cushing. 
As  to  the  Gulflight,  he  said,  the  commander  of  a  German  sub- 
marine, on  the  afternoon  of  May  1,  when  near  the  Scilly 
Islands,  saw,  coming  towards  him,  a  large  merchant  steamer 
accompanied  by  two  smaller  vessels.  The  position  of  the  two 
was  such  "that  they  formed  a  regular  safeguard  against  sub- 
marine attacks;  moreover,  one  of  them  had  a  wireless  appa- 
ratus, which  is  not  usual  with  small  vessels."  Judging  from 
appearances  the  submarine  commander  supposed  it  to  be  "a  case 
of  English  convoy  vessel"  and  that  the  steamer  must  be  of 
considerable  value  to  the  British  Government  to  be  so  guarded. 
"The  commander  could  see  no  neutral  markings  on  it  of  any 
kind,  that  is,  distinctive  marks  painted  on  the  free  board 
recognizable  at  a  distance."  The  American  flag  on  the  steamer 
was  not  seen  until  the  shot  had  been  fired.  The  attack  was  to 
be  "attributed  to  an  unfortunate  accident"  and  not  to  the  fault 
of  the  commander.  The  German  Government  expressed  "its 
regret  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  concerning  this 
incident,  and  declares  itself  ready  to  furnish  full  recompense 
for  the  damage  thereby  sustained  by  American  citizens." 

That  the  Cushing  had  been  attacked  was  still  in  doubt. 
From  such  official  reports  as  were  available  it  appeared  that 
only  one  merchantman  was  attacked  by  German  flying  machines 
near  Nordhinder  Lightship.  The  German  aviator  was  forced 
to  consider  the  vessel  as  hostile  because  no  flag,  no  neutral 
markings  were  visible.  That  the  Cushing  was  the  ship  attacked 
was  possible,  but  the  German  Government  must  ask  for  the 
evidence. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  "LTTSITANIA"  NOTES 

IT  was  now  the  duty  of  the  Department  of  State  to  reply 
to  the  note  from  von  Jagow  concerning  the  Gushing,  Gulflight 
and  Lusitania.  That  the  President  was  preparing  such  a  reply 
was  well  known  in  Washington;  but  rumor  had  it  that  the 
Cabinet  was  at  odds.  Mr.  Bryan,  it  was  said,  wished  a  note 
sent  to  Great  Britain  demanding  all  the  rights  of  neutrals  un- 
der international  law;  did  not  approve  of  the  length  to  which 
the  President  went  in  his  "strict  accountability"  threat;  and 
feared,  unless  the  terms  of  the  new  note  were  modified,  or  the 
protest  sent  to  Great  Britain  at  the  same  time,  diplomatic 
relations  with  Germany  would  be  broken.  Indeed,  he  might 
resign. 

On  June  8,  1915,  Mr.  Bryan  did  resign,  and  in  his  letter 
to  the  President  said:  "Obedient  to  your  sense  of  duty  and 
actuated  by  the  highest  motives,  you  have  prepared  for  trans- 
mission to  the  German  Government  a  note  in  which  I  cannot 
join  without  violating  what  I  deem  to  be  an  obligation  to  my 
country,  and  the  issue  involved  is  of  such  moment  that  to 
remain  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  would  be  as  unfair  to  you 
as  it  would  be  to  the  cause  which  is  nearest  my  heart,  namely, 
the  prevention  of  war."  The  resignation  was  "to  take  effect 
when  the  note  is  sent,  unless  you  prefer  an  earlier  hour." 

Beset  by  interviewers,  as  soon  as  the  resignation  became 
known,  Mr.  Bryan  said:  "The  differences  between  the  Presi- 
dent and  myself  on  the  question  of  these  notes  did  not  spring  up 
suddenly  to-day  or  this  week.  They  have  existed  since  the  Fala- 
ba  case.  We  have  had  many  talks  about  the  questions  involved, 
and  the  difference  in  our  attitude  has  gradually  grown  wider. 
Finally  we  agreed  to  disagree.  We  decided  upon  that  one  day 
last  week." 

His  act  made  a  great  sensation,  and  because  of  it  he  was 

106 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  107 

both  praised  and  heartily  condemned.  He  deserts  the  Presi- 
dent, said  one  journal,  at  a  moment  of  grave  international  com- 
plication, does  all  in  his  power  to  create  prejudice  against  the 
note  about  to  be  sent,  and  gives  aid  and  comfort  to  the  oppo- 
nents, in  Germany  and  here,  of  the  firm  assertion  of  our  rights 
on  the  sea.  "The  country  looks  upon  Mr.  Bryan  as  a  deserter," 
said  another.  Americans,  said  a  third,  understand  Mr.  Bryan's 
quixotic  devotion  to  his  ideals.  But  Germany  does  not  know 
him  as  Americans  do.  It  will  see  in  his  resignation  a  divided 
government,  a  divided  people,  the  one  thing  Germany  has 
sought  to  bring  about  since  the  war  began. 

Mr.  Robert  Lansing,  Counselor  to  the  Department  of  State, 
now  became  Acting  Secretary,  and  June  9  the  note,  over  his 
name,  was  started  on  its  way  to  Berlin.  That  day  Mr.  Bryan 
made  a  further  statement  of  his  views.  There  were,  he  said, 
two  points  on  which  he  differed  with  the  President.  The  first 
was  "the  suggestion  of  investigation  by  an  international  com- 
mission." The  second  was  "warning  Americans  against  trav- 
eling on  belligerent  vessels  or  with  cargoes  of  ammunition." 
We  should,  he  held,  "frankly  state  to  Germany  that  we  are 
willing  to  apply,  in  this  case,  the  principle  which  we  are  bound 
by  treaty  to  apply  to  disputes  between  the  United  States  and 
thirty  countries."  No  matter  what  disputes  might  arise  be- 
tween us  and  any  one  of  these  nations,  war  must  not  be  declared, 
nor  hostilities  begin  until  the  matter  in  dispute  has  been  inves- 
tigated by  an  international  tribunal  and  one  year  allowed  in 
which  to  investigate  and  report.  "Germany  has  always  been  a 
friendly  nation,  and  a  great  many  of  our  people  are  of  Ger- 
man ancestry.  Why  should  we  not  deal  with  Germany  accord- 
ing to  this  plan  ?" 

As  to  the  second  point  of  difference,  Mr.  Bryan  asked: 
"Why  should  an  American  citizen  be  permitted  to  involve  his 
country  in  war  by  traveling  upon  a  belligerent  ship  when  he 
knows  that  the  ship  will  pass  through  a  danger  zone  ?" 

The  question  was  not  whether  an  American  citizen  has  a 
right,  under  international  law,  to  travel  on  a  belligerent  ship. 
The  question  was  whether  he  ought  not,  out  of  consideration 
for  his  country,  if  not  for  his  own  safety,  avoid  danger  when 
avoidance  is  possible.  He  did  not  know  how  far  the  Govern- 


108     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ment  could  legally  go  in  actually  preventing  American  citizens 
from  traveling  on  belligerent  ships,  but  it  could,  and  it  "should, 
earnestly  advise  American  citizens  not  to  risk  themselves  or 
the  peace  of  the  country." 

"President  Taft  advised  Americans  to  leave  Mexico,"  and 
"President  Wilson  has  repeated  the  advice."  This  Mr.  Bryan 
thought  eminently  wise  and  the  advice  should  be  repeated.  "It 
is  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  to  suppress  the  mob  and  to  prevent 
violence,  but  he  does  not  hesitate  to  warn  citizens  to  keep  off 
the  streets  during  the  riots.  He  does  not  question  their  right 
to  use  the  streets,  but  for  their  own  protection  and  in  the  inter- 
est of  order  he  warns  them  not  to  incur  the  risks  involved  in 
going  on  the  streets  when  men  are  shooting  at  each  other." 

This  new  statement  of  Mr.  Bryan's  views  caused  another 
outburst  of  dissent,  and  a  hearty  approval  of  the  course  of 
the  President.  To  Mr.  Bryan  it  was  said,  There  is  no  legal 
difference  between  warning  Americans  out  of  Mexico,  which 
is  foreign  soil,  and  warning  them  off  the  high  seas,  which 
belong  to  us  as  much  as  to  Germany.  If  there  be  any  American 
who  was  not  reconciled  yesterday  morning  to  Mr.  Bryan's 
resignation,  he  must  be  reconciled  to-day,  in  the  light  of  Mr. 
Bryan's  own  justification  of  his  action.  "When  a  man,"  said 
another,  "quits  the  service  of  a  private  employer  he  is  bound 
in  honor  not  to  disclose  his  employer's  trade  secrets."  Mr. 
Bryan  resigns  his  office,  stating  his  reasons  at  sufficient  length 
and  with  all  due  clearness.  Yet  on  the  day  following  he  puts 
forth  a  statement  in  which  he  does  not  hesitate  to  publish  to  all 
the  world  facts  in  respect  to  an  important  state  paper  of  which 
he  had  knowledge  only  as  a  trusted  adviser  of  the  President, 
and  which  the  President  has  not  yet  made  public.  Said  a 
third,  the  resignation  is  to  be  deplored  because  it  will  give  the 
world  a  mistaken  idea  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
are  not  standing  strongly  behind  the  President. 

The  German-American  press  gave  approval.  "Mr.  Bryan 
frankly  stated  his  object  was  the  prevention  of  war.  Mr. 
Bryan  will  have  the  support  of  all  sane  Americans  on  any 
reasonable  proposition  which  will  keep  the  country  out  of  war." 
"Whether  the  departure  of  Mr.  Bryan  will  exercise  great  influ- 
ence on  the  course  of  events  so  far  as  relations  with  Germany 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  109 

are  concerned  is  an  open  question.  At  all  events,  the  peace 
party  in  the  country  as  a  whole  has  found  a  leader  who  is  a 
fighter,  who  to-day  still  has  a  large  following  in  Congress  and 
out  of  it."  "Bryan's  stand  for  fair  play  forces  his  resigna- 
tion. Bryan's  resignation  at  this  critical  moment  is  the  great- 
est service  the  Commoner  has  ever  rendered  his  country,  be- 
cause it  has  aroused  the  people  to  see  the  danger  of  the  foreign 
policy  now  pursued  by  the  President.  The  warning  of  George 
Washington  against  excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign  nation, 
and  excessive  dislike  for  another,  seems  to  be  forgotten  in 
Washington."  Said  the  Fatherland:  "The  President  in  his 
present  course  has  not  behind  him  the  majority  of  the  American 
people,  since  even  his  own  advisers  desert  him." 

The  English  press  regarded  the  resignation  as  of  great 
significance.  It  meant  "a  death  blow  to  the  Germanic  powers." 
It  meant  "that  America  has  crossed  the  Rubicon";  that  "the 
greatest  republic  on  earth  has  resolved  to  be  true  to  itself  and 
its  ideals."  "By  far  the  most  important  event  of  to-day  is  the 
announcement  which  comes  to  us  from  Washington  that  Mr. 
Bryan  has  resigned  his  office." 

The  second  Lusitania  note  was  made  public  June  11. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  noted  with  gratifica- 
tion that  in  discussing  the  cases  of  the  Gulflight  and  Gushing, 
the  German  Government  fully  recognized  the  principle  of  the 
freedom  of  the  open  seas  to  neutrals,  and  was  willing  to  meet  its 
liability  when  neutral  ships,  guilty  of  no  hostile  act,  were  at- 
tacked by  air  craft  or  submarines.  But  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  surprised  to  find  the  German  Government 
contending,  in  the  case  of  the  Faldba,  that  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  a  merchant  vessel  to  escape  attack  and  secure  help 
altered  the  obligation  of  the  officer,  seeking  to  capture  her, 
to  respect  the  safety  of  the  lives  of  those  on  board  even  after 
she  had  ceased  her  attempt  to  escape. 

Nothing  but  actual  forcible  resistance  or  continued  efforts  to 
escape  by  flight  when  ordered  to  stop  for  the  purpose  of  visit  on  the 
part  of  the  merchantman  has  ever  been  held  to  forfeit  the  lives  of 
passengers  and  crew. 


110     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Von  Jagow  had  expressed  his  belief  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  was  not  aware  of  the  character  and  outfit 
of  the  Lusitania,  not  aware  that  she  carried  masked  guns, 
trained  gunners  and  special  ammunition,  not  aware  that  she 
had  transported  troops  from  Canada  and  a  cargo  not  permitted 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  go  in  a  vessel  carrying 
passengers. 

Were  these  statements  true,  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
[Mr.  Lansing  replied,]  would  have  been  bound  to  take  official  cog- 
nizance in  performing  its  recognized  duty  as  a  neutral  Power  and  in 
enforcing  its  national  laws.  It  was  its  duty  to  see  to  it  that  the 
Lusitania  was  not  armed  for  offensive  action,  that  she  was  not  serv- 
ing as  a  transport,  that  she  did  not  carry  a  cargo  prohibited  by  the 
Statutes  of  the  United  States,  and  that  if,  in  fact,  she  was  a  naval 
auxiliary  of  Great  Britain  she  should  not  receive  her  clearance  as  a 
merchantman,  and  it  performed  that  duty  and  enforced  its  statutes 
with  scrupulous  vigilance  through  its  regularly  constituted  officials. 
[The  Government  of  the  United  States  was  able,  therefore,]  to  as- 
sure the  Imperial  German  Government  that  it  has  been  misinformed. 

But  whatever  the  contention  of  the  German  Government 
as  to  the  carriage  of  contraband  of  war,  or  the  explosion  of  the 
cargo  by  the  torpedo,  "these  contentions  are  irrelevant  to  the 
question  of  the  legality  of  the  methods  used  by  the  German 
naval  authorities  in  sinking  the  vessel." 

But  the  sinking  of  passenger  ships  involves  principles  of  hu- 
manity which  throw  into  the  background  any  special  circumstances 
of  detail  that  may  be  thought  to  affect  the  cases,  principles  which  lift 
it,  as  the  Imperial  Government  will  no  doubt  be  quick  to  recognize 
and  acknowledge,  out  of  the  class  of  ordinary  subjects  of  diplomatic 
discussion,  or  of  international  controversy.  Whatever  be  the  other 
facts  regarding  the  Lusitania,  the  principal  fact  is  that  a  great 
steamer,  primarily  and  chiefly  a  conveyance  for  passengers,  and  carry- 
ing more  than  a  thousand  souls  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war,  was  torpedoed  and  sunk  without  so  much  as  a  challenge 
or  warning  and  that  men,  women  and  children  were  sent  to  their 
deaths  in  circumstances  unparalleled  in  modern  warfare.  .  .  . 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  contending  for  something 
much  greater  than  mere  rights  of  property  or  privileges  of  commerce. 
It  is  contending  for  nothing  less  high  and  sacred  than  the  rights  of 
humanity  which  every  government  honors  itself  in  respecting  and 
which  no  government  is  justified  in  resigning  on  behalf  of  those  under 
its  care  and  authority.  .  .  . 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  111 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  admit  that  the 
proclamation  of  a  war  zone  from  which  neutral  ships  have  been 
warned  to  keep  away  may  be  made  to  operate  as  in  any  degree  an 
abbreviation  of  the  rights  either  of  American  shipmasters  or  of 
American  citizens  bound  on  lawful  errands  as  passengers  on  mer- 
chant ships  of  belligerent  nationality.  It  does  not  understand  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  question  these  rights.  It  under- 
stands it,  also,  to  accept  as  established  beyond  question  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  lives  of  noncombatants  cannot  lawfully  or  rightfully 
be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruction  of  an  unresisting 
merchantman,  and  to  recognize  the  obligation  to  take  sufficient  pre- 
caution to  ascertain  whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in  fact  of 
belligerent  nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of  war  under 
a  neutral  flag. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  deems  it  reason- 
able to  expect  that  the  Imperial  German  Government  will  adopt  the 
measures  necessary  to  put  these  principles  into  practice  in  respect 
to  the  safeguarding  of  American  lives  and  American  ships,  and  asks 
for  assurances  that  this  will  be  done. 

In  the  newspapers,  side  by  side  with  the  note,  was  another 
statement  or  appeal  from  Mr.  Bryan.  It  was  addressed  "To 
the  American  People"  and  reads: 

You  now  have  before  you  the  text  of  the  note  to  Germany,  the 
note  which  it  would  have  been  my  official  duty  to  sign  had  I  re- 
mained Secretary  of  State.  I  ask  you  to  sit  in  judgment  on  my 
decision  to  resign  rather  than  to  share  responsibility  for  it.  ... 

[If  the  difference  were  a  personal  one  between  the  President  and 
himself  it  would  matter  little.]  But  the  real  issue  is  not  between 
persons;  it  is  between  systems.  [In  dealing  with  each,  other  govern- 
ments used  either  force  or  persuasion.]  Force  speaks  with  firmness 
and  acts  through  the  ultimatum.  Persuasion  employs  argument, 
courts  investigation  and  depends  upon  negotiation.  Force  represents 
the  old  system,  the  system  that  must  pass  away.  Persuasion  repre- 
sents the  new  sytem,  the  system  that  has  been  growing  all  too  slowly, 
it  is  true,  but  growing  for  1900  years. 

[If  he]  "correctly  interpreted  the  note  to  Germany,  it  conforms 
to  the  standard  of  the  old  system  rather  than  to  the  rules  of  the 
new,"  [and  he  cheerfully  admitted  that]  it  is  abundantly  supported 
by  precedents  written  in  characters  of  blood  upon  almost  every  page 
of  human  history.  Austria  furnishes  the  most  recent  precedent;  it 
was  Austria's  firmness  that  dictated  the  ultimatum  against  Serbia 
which  set  the  world  at  war. 

A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit.  The  war  in  Europe  is  the  ripened 
fruit  of  the  old  system.  This  is  what  firmness  supported  by  force 


112     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

has  done  in  the  old  world;  shall  we  invite  it  to  cross  the  Atlantic? 
Already  the  jingoes  have  caught  the  rabies  from  the  dogs  of  war; 
shall  the  opponents  of  organized  slaughter  be  silent  while  the  disease 
spreads  ? 

A  humble  follower  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  a  firm  believer 
in  the  prophecy  that  "they  who  take  the  sword  shall  perish  by 
the  sword,"  he  wished  to  be  "counted  among  those  who  ear- 
nestly urge  the  adoption  of  a  course  in  the  matter  which  will 
leave  no  doubts  of  our  Government's  willingness  to  continue 
negotiations  with  Germany  until  an  amicable  understanding 
is  reached,  or  at  least  until  the  stress  of  war  is  over,  we  can 
appeal  from  Philip  drunk  with  carnage  to  Philip  sobered  by 
the  memories  of  an  historic  friendship,  and  by  our  recollection 
of  the  innumerable  ties  of  kinship  that  bind  the  Fatherland  to 
the  United  States." 

Having  made  his  appeal  to  the  America  people,  Mr.  Bryan 
followed  it  with  one  "To  the  German- Americans."  After  some 
complimentary  remarks  intended  "as  an  introduction  to  an 
appeal  which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  make  to  them,"  he  proceeded 
to  make  it  under  four  heads: 

"First.  If  any  of  them  have  ever  in  a  moment  of  passion 
or  excitement  suspected  the  President  of  lack  of  neutrality 
or  lack  of  friendship  towards  the  German  Government  and  the 
German  people,  let  that  thought  be  forgotten,  never  again  to 
be  recalled."  Since  his  resignation  Mr.  Bryan  had  "received 
numerous  telegrams  from  German-Americans  and  German- 
American  societies  commending"  his  action.  These  senders 
of  telegrams  understood  his  position,  but  that  all  might  under- 
stand it  he  would  state  it  again. 

"The  President  is  not  only  desirous  of  peace,  but  he  hopes 
for  it,  and  he  has  adopted  the  methods  which  he  thinks  most 
likely  to  contribute  towards  peace.  My  difference  from  him  is 
as  to  the  method,  not  the  purpose,  and  my  utterances  since 
resigning  have  been  intended  to  crystallize  public  sentiment 
in  support  of  his  efforts  to  maintain  peace,  or  to  use  a  familiar 
phrase,  'peace  with  honor.' 

"Second.  Knowing  that  the  President  desires  peace,  it  is 
your  duty  to  help  him  secure  it,  and  how?  By  exerting  your 
influence  to  convince  the  German  Government  of  this  fact,  and 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  113 

to  persuade  that  Government  to  take  no  step  that  would  lead 
in  the  direction  of  war." 

He  feared  that  the  German  Government  "might,  despair- 
ing of  a  friendly  settlement,  break  off  diplomatic  relations, 
and  thus  create  a  condition  out  of  which  war  might  come  with- 
out the  intention  of  either  country." 

"Third.  Do  not  attempt  to  connect  the  negotiations  which 
are  going  on  between  the  United  States  and  the  German  Gov- 
ernment with  those  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain.  .  .  . 

"Fourth.  I  hope  that  Germany  will  acquiesce  in  the 
demands  that  have  been  made,  and  I  hope  that  she  will  acqui- 
esce in  them  without  conditions.  She  can  trust  the  United 
States  to  deal  justly  with  her  in  the  consideration  of  any 
changes  that  she  may  propose  in  the  international  rules  that 
govern  the  taking  of  prizes." 

In  Germany  the  Berlin  press  found  nothing  in  the  Presi- 
dent's note  likely  to  change  the  methods  of  submarine  warfare. 
One  declared  "the  torpedoing  must  go  on";  another  asserted 
the  right  of  Germany  to  stop,  by  any  means,  the  shipment  of 
munitions;  another  defended  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania; 
another  thought  the  note  might  put  off  a  settlement  but  could 
not  bring  it  about. 

Mr.  Bryan's  notes,  and  especially  his  appeal  to  German- 
Americans,  were  followed  by  an  invitation  to  speak  at  a  great 
peace  meeting  in  New  York  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
"Friends  of  Peace,"  the  German- American  Alliance  of  Greater 
New  York,  United  Irish  Societies,  American  Truth  Society, 
American  Independence  Union,  American  Humanity  League, 
American  Women  of  German  Descent,  German-American 
Peace  Societies,  and  many  other  societies,  each  committed  to 
a  propaganda  against  the  export  of  munitions  of  war.  The 
chairman  was  the  president  of  the  United  German-American 
Societies  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Among  the  speakers 
besides  Mr.  Bryan  were  Mr.  Frank  Buchanan,  a  member  of 
the  House  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs;  Mr.  Henry  Vollmer, 
late  a  member  of  Congress  from  Iowa,  and  Mr.  Jeremiah 
O'Leary.  Among  those  present  were  the  Turkish  Ambassador ; 
Dr.  Dumba,  the  Austrian  Ambassador ;  Captain  Boy-Ed,  naval 


fll4     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

attache,  and  Captain  von  Papen,  military  attache  to  the  Ger- 
man Embassy.  The  great  auditorium  of  Madison  Square  Gar- 
den was  filled.  Thousands,  unable  to  enter  the  hall,  stood  in 
the  street  and  were  addressed  by  speakers  from  six  stands. 

When  denouncing  his  pro-German  speech,  a  charge  was 
made  in  the  newspapers  that  on  the  day  the  Lusitania  note  was 
given  to  the  public  Mr.  Bryan  conferred  with  Ambassador 
Dumba,  told  him  that  the  note  had  been  written  by  the  Presi- 
dent "for  home  consumption,"  to  satisfy  the  public  feeling  and 
to  overcome  the  effect  of  his  words  "too  proud  to  fight"  used 
in  his  speech  to  the  new  citizens.  This  statement,  it  was 
charged,  when  telegraphed  to  Vienna  and  Berlin  gave  the  Ger- 
man Government  the  impression  that  the  note  was  not  to  be 
taken  seriously  and  led  it  to  refuse  to  stop  submarine  warfare 

and  suggest  negotiation.     To  this  Mr.  Bryan  replied : 

> 

I  have  noticed  that  a  number  of  jingo  papers  are  publishing  a 
statement  to  the  effect  that  after  the  sending  of  the  first  note  to 
Germany  I  gave  Ambassador  Dumba  the  impression  that  the  note 
was  not  to  be  taken  seriously.  I  am  not  willing  that  the  uninformed 
shall  be  misled  by  that  portion  of  the  press  which  is  endeavoring  to 
force  this  country  into  war.  I  reported  to  the  President  the  con- 
versation which  I  had  with  •  Ambassador  Dumba  and  received  his 
approval  of  what  I  said.  When  we  learned  that  the  conversation  had 
been  misinterpreted  in  Berlin  I  brought  the  matter  to  the  attention  of 
Ambassador  Dumba  and  secured  from  him  a  statement  certifying  to 
the  correctness  of  the  report  of  the  conversation  that  I  had  made 
to  the  President.  Ambassador  Dumba's  statement  was  sent  to  our 
Embassy  at  Berlin  and  Ambassador  Dumba  also  telegraphed  the  Ger- 
man Government  affirming  the  correctness  of  my  report  of  the  inter- 
view and  denying  the  construction  that  had  been  placed  upon  it. 
These  are  the  facts  in  the  case. 

His  critics  now  pointed  out  that,  while  he  had  much  to  say 
about  the  jingo  press,  he  failed  to  state  exactly  what  he  said 
to  Ambassador  Dumba.  If  innocent,  why  not  give  it  to  the 
public,  why  keep  it  secret  after  revealing  so  many  secrets  of 
the  Cabinet?  Whatever  it  was,  did  not  the  fact  remain  that 
the  German  Government  failed  to  take  the  Lusitania  note 
seriously?  The  reply  showed  this. 

The  Providence  Journal  now  came  forward  with  the  state- 
ment that,  after  the  note  of  February  10  had  been  dispatched, 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  115 

Mr.  Bryan  saw  Ambassador  Dumba  "at  least  three  times  at 
the  State  Department  and  twice  at  his  home" ;  that  at  these 
meetings  the  note  was  frankly  discussed,  and  that  at  the  last 
one  the  Ambassador  presented  to  Mr.  Bryan  a  typewritten 
statement  of  what  he  believed  "to  be  the  attitude  of  the  Admin- 
istration in  connection  with  the  note  as  outlined  to  him  by 
Mr.  Bryan." 

First.  Germany  is  willing  to  discontinue  submarine  attacks  on 
vessels  aboard  which  it  is  known  there  are  United  States  citizens, 
unless  such  vessels  are  known  to  be  carrying  contraband  of  war. 

Second.     That  provision  be  made  for  such  passenger  boats. 

Third.  Proclamation  to  be  issued  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  advising  United  States  citizens  that  they  must  not,  in  the 
future,  take  passage  aboard  vessels  sailing  under  a  belligerent  flag 
which  are  carrying  contraband  of  war,  either  from  the  United  States 
or  from  any  other  point  anywhere  from  any  country  in  the  world. 

"Mr.  Bryan  then  and  there  agreed  with  the  Austrian 
Ambassador  that  if  this  proposition  were  put  up  to  President 
Wilson  in  the  form  outlined  it  would  be  accepted." 

Count  von  Bernstorff  was  at  once  notified,  sent  the  "entire 
story  of  the  conferences"  to  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin,  and 
was  duly  "instructed  to  visit  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  agree  to  the  terms."  But  "it  was  not  until  he  unfolded 
the  scheme  to  Mr.  Wilson  that  he  knew  anything  about  it." 

"The  above  statements,"  said  the  Journal,  "are  correct  in 
svery  particular." 

As  week  followed  week  and  von  Jagow  made  no  reply  to 
the  Lusitania  note  of  June  9,  a  change  in  the  attitude  of  Ger- 
many towards  the  United  States  became  apparent.  It  was 
shown  by  the  German  press,  which  now  for  the  first  time 
divided  on  the  question,  How  shall  America  be  treated  ?  It  was 
shown  by  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  Tageszeitung,  be- 
cause of  a  savage  reply  by.  Count  von  Reventlow  to  some 
remarks,  in  the  Lokal  Anzeiger,  on  the  importance  of  American 
friendship.  It  was  shown  by  Admiral  Oscar  von  Truppel,  who 
in  an  article  in  Der  Tag  warned  its  readers  not  to  think  lightly 
of  a  break  with  the  United  States.  A  German- American  war, 
he  said,  or  even  a  rupture  of  diplomatic  relations,  would  do  more 
injury  to  German  prospects  than  was  generally  believed. 


America  at  first  could  give  little  military  aid  to  the  Entente 
Allies  save  by  hastening  the  supply  of  ammunition.  But  "it 
could  in  time  cooperate,  with  considerable  land  and  sea  forces 
and  with  first-class  submarines  and  aeroplanes,  in  the  com- 
plete isolation  of  Germany."  America  could  also  "exercise 
such  pressure  on  the  few  remaining  neutral  countries  that  these 
would  probably  be  arrayed  actively  or  passively  in  the  ranks 
of  our  enemies."  Can  we  hope,  he  asked,  "so  far  as  we  are 
able  to  foresee,  to  force  England  to  her  knees  through  subma- 
rine warfare  against  her  commerce  ?"  If  the  answer  were  no, 
then  German  submarines  could  be  put  to  a  better  use  in  attacks 
on  "hostile  warships,  particularly  in  the  hunting  grounds  of 
the  Mediterranean,  the  Dardanelles  and  the  Suez  Canal,"  and 
submarine  warfare  against  merchantmen  "could  be  modified  or 
abandoned  to  obtain  a  more  favorable  neutrality  from,  and  the 
friendship  of  America  which  would  be  of  great  value  to  Ger- 
many after  the  war."  If  the  answer  were  yes,  then  Germany 
was  justified  in  using  to  the  fullest  extent  her  superiority  in 
submarines,  "and  we  can  calmly  accept  all  the  consequences." 
It  was  shown  by  an  effort  of  the  Foreign  Office  to  arrange  by 
informal  discussion  a  formula  for  a  note  acceptable  to  both 
Germany  and  the  United  States.  Herr  Zimmermann,  under 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  report  said,  and  Ambassador 
Gerard,  had  a  conference  on  Saturday,  July  3,  and  the  draft 
of  the  note  was  discussed.  Reports  from  Washington  stated 
that  the  seriousness  of  the  issue  had  so  impressed  the  authori- 
ties at  Berlin  that  they  were  seeking  to  find  out  just  what 
changes  in  submarine  warfare  would  satisfy  America  without 
lessening  the  effectiveness  of  that  kind  of  warfare  against 
Great  Britain ;  that  the  draft  submitted  to  Ambassador  Gerard 
was  intended  to  draw  from  him  an  expression  of  opinion,  that 
he  promptly  asked  for  instructions  from  Washington,  and  the 
President,  then  at  his  summer  home  at  Cornish,  was  consid- 
ering a  reply. 

On  July  8,  according  to  dispatches  from  Berlin,  the  Ger- 
man Foreign  Office  was  informed  that  the  American  Govern- 
ment would  not  enter  into  preliminary  negotiations  respecting 
the  note  from  Germany,  and  therefore  it  would  be  presented 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  117 

to  Ambassador  Gerard  at  once.  The  note,  dated  July  8,  was 
made  public  in  our  country  on  the  tenth. 

The  Imperial  Government,  von  Jagow  said,  learned  with 
great  satisfaction  "how  earnestly  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  concerned  in  seeing  the  principles  of  humanity 
realized  in  the  present  war."  Ever  since  the  time  when  "Fred- 
erick the  Great  negotiated  with  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, and  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  treaty  of  friendship  and  com- 
merce of  September  5,  1785,  between  Prussia  and  the  Republic 
of  the  West,"  the  two  countries  had  stood  together  in  the  strug- 
gle for  "the  freedom  of  the  seas."  ff  "in  the  present  war  the 
principles  which  should  be  the  ideal  of  the  future  have  been 
traversed  more  and  more  the  longer  its  duration,  the  German 
Government  has  no  guilt  therein."  Great  Britain  was  to  blame. 
On  November  3,  1914,  she  declared  the  North  Sea  a  war  zone, 
planted  poorly  anchored  mines,  captured  vessels,  made  it  dan- 
gerous for  neutral  vessels  to  enter  the  sea,  and  thus  blockaded 
neutral  coasts  and  ports  contrary  to  international  law.  On 
November  16,  1914,  her  Prime  Minister  declared  in  the 
House  of  Commons  that  one  of  the  great  tasks  of  England  was 
to  prevent  food  reaching  Germany  through  neutral  ports.  Since 
March  1,  she  had  been  taking  from  neutral  ships  all  merchan- 
dise bound  to  or  from  Germany,  even  when  neutral  property. 

While  the  enemies  of  Germany  were  thus  conducting  a  war 
without  mercy  for  her  destruction,  she  was  fighting  "in  self- 
defense"  for  her  "national  existence  and  for  the  sake  of  peace 
of  assured  permanency."  Forced  to  adopt  a  submarine  war- 
fare to  meet  the  intentions  of  its  enemies,  the  German  Govern- 
ment on  February  4,  in  its  memorandum  "recognized  that  the 
interests  of  neutrals  might  suffer  from  the  submarine  war- 
fare." The  case  of  the  Lusitania  showed  "with  horrible  clear- 
ness to  what  jeopardizing  of  human  lives  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  war  employed  by  our  adversaries  leads."  "All 
distinction  between  merchant  ships  and  vessels  of  war  had 
been  done  away  with"  by  the  orders  to  British  merchantmen 
to  arm  themselves,  by  instructions  "to  ram  submarines  and  the 
promise  of  rewards  therefor."  Had  the  German  commander 
of  the  submarine  which  sank  the  Lusitania,  caused  the  crew 
and  passengers  to  take  to  the  boats  before  firing  the  torpedo, 


118 

his  own  vessel  would  surely  have  been  destroyed.  Experience 
justified  the  belief  that  ihe.Lusitania  would  have  floated  long 
enough  to  enable  all  aboard  of  her  to  take  to  the  boats,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  large  quantity  of  highly  explosive  material 
she  carried. 

In  the  spirit  of  old  friendship  the  Imperial  Government 
would  do  all  it  could  "to  prevent  the  jeopardizing  of  lives  of 
American  citizens."  But  to  prevent  "unforeseen  dangers  to 
American  passenger  steamships,"  they  must  be  "made  recogniz- 
able by  special  markings"  and  German  submarine  commanders 
must  be  "notified  a  reasonable  time  in  advance." 

That  American  citizens  might  not  suffer  for  "adequate  fa- 
cilities for  travel  across  the  Atlantic,"  the  German  Government 
would  suggest  that  "a  reasonable  number  of  neutral  steamers 
under  the  American  flag"  be  used  in  passenger  service.  There 
would  thus  be  "no  compelling  necessity"  for  American  citizens 
to  travel  under  an  enemy's  flag.  The  Imperial  Government 
was  "unable  to  admit  that  American  citizens  can  protect  an 
enemy  ship  through  the  mere  fact  of  their  presence  on  board." 
If  an  adequate  number  of  neutral  passenger  steamers  could 
not  be  acquired,  the  Imperial  Government  would  not  object  to 
placing  under  the  American  flag  four  enemy  passenger  steam- 
ships, "for  passenger  traffic  between  North  America  and  Eng- 
land." 

By  the  London  press  the  note  was  called  impudent  and  eva- 
sive. The  Times  described  it  as  a  "compound  of  evasion,  mis- 
statement  and  effrontery,  such  as  only  Teutonic  diplomacy 
could  have  brewed,"  and  not  likely  "to  ease  the  tension  between 
the  two  countries.  The  assurances  twice  demanded  by  the 
United  States  are  not  even  mentioned."  "As  far  as  insult 
and  insolence  can  be  carried  on  without  resort  to  actual  lan- 
guage of  contempt  and  defiance,"  said  the  Daily  Telegraph , 
"they  are  carried  on  in  this  document."  "The  Washington 
Government  has  been  shown,"  said  the  Post,  "that  Germany 
does  not  care  a  snap  of  its  fingers  for  American  lives,  rights  or 
property."  The  Paris  Figaro  did  not  know  whether  "the  im- 
pudent cynicism  of  German  diplomacy  or  the  extraordinary  pre- 
sumption leading  them  to  believe  that  the  United  States  would 
be  satisfied  with  such  a  reply"  was  the  more  remarkable.  Said 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  119 

Petit  Parisienne,  "It  offers  America  derisive  guarantees  and 
openly  seeks  to  prolong  indefinitely  the  negotiations  that  it 
never  intended  to  end." 

Much  the  same  resentment  found  expression  in  the  American 
press.  "The  fact  that  the  Germans  have  thrice  over  responded  to 
the  demands  of  the  United  States  with  evasive  notes ;  that  they 
have  with  such  scant  courtesy  as  to  border  upon  insult  neglected 
the  demands  of  the  United  States  for  reparation  for  the  Lusi- 
tania  incident,  and  have  offered  nothing  as  to  future  protection 
for  American  interests  which  the  United  States  can  consider 
with  dignity  or  safety,  has  not  failed  to  impress  itself  upon  the 
American  mind,"  said  one  journal. 

The  difficulty,  it  was  said,  in  making  the  German  Govern- 
ment understand  how  seriously  the  manner  of  conducting  the 
submarine  war  is  viewed  in  the  United  States  is  due  to  Mr. 
Bryan's  statement  to  Ambassador  Dumba,  to  Mr.  Bryan's  resig- 
nation and  his  subsequent  propaganda,  to  his  adoption  of  the 
German  point  of  view  regarding  the  shipment  of  ammunition 
and  the  barring  of  American  travelers  from  belligerent  ships, 
and  to  the  statements  in  the  German  press  that  our  Western 
States  are  solidly  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  President. 

There  was  little  talk  of  war ;  but  the  general  opinion  was  that 
the  two  nations  had  now  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways,  and 
diplomatic  relations  ought  to  be  severed;  that  if  another  note 
were  sent  the  Government  should  limit  its  words  to  a  final  state- 
ment of  its  position.  Some  thought,  as  Germany  for  two  months 
past  had  refrained  from  attacks  violating  our  rights,  the  United 
States  could  still  consider  the  issue. 

To  calm,  if  possible,  the  growing  indignation  and  remove  all 
doubt  as  to  what  would  be  done,  the  President  authorized  his 
secretary  to  announce  "that  from  the  moment  of  the  arrival  of 
the  official  text  of  the  German  note,  I  have  given  the  matter  the 
closest  attention,  keeping  constantly  in  touch  with  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  with  every  source  that  would  throw  light  on 
the  situation ;  that  so  soon  as  the  Secretary  of  State  and  I  have 
both  maturely  considered  the  situation  I  shall  go  to  Washington 
to  get  into  personal  conference  with  him  and  with  the  Cabinet, 
and  that  there  will  be  as  prompt  an  announcement  as  possible  of 
the  purposes  of  the  Government." 


120     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Another  indication  of  the  seriousness  with  which  the  Im- 
perial Government  regarded  the  strained  relations  with  our 
country  was  a  note  presented  on  July  12.  ylt  had  to  do  with  the 
Nebraskan.  As  yet  our  Government  had  made  no  complaint. 
The  Imperial  Government,  however,  had  "received  from  news- 
paper reports  the  intelligence  that  the  American  steamer  Ne- 
braskan had  been  damaged  by  a  mine  or  torpedo  on  the  south- 
west coast  of  Ireland,"  had  investigated  and  was  "convinced 
that  the  damage"  had  been  done  "by  an  attack  by  a  submarine." 

"On  the  evening  of  May  25  last,  the  submarine  met  a 
steamer  bound  westward  without  a  flag  and  with  no  neutral 
markings  on  her  freeboard,  about  35  miles  west  of  Fastnet 
Hock."  In  "the  twilight  which  had  already  set  in,  the  name  of 
the  steamer  was  not  visible  from  the  submarine."  Obliged  to 
assume  "that  only  English  steamers,"  and  no  neutral  steamers, 
traversed  this  zone  without  flag  and  markings,  "he  attacked"  be- 
lieving "that  he  had  an  enemy  vessel  before  him."  Some  time 
after  the  shot  the  American  flag  was  hoisted  and  "he  refrained 
from  further  attack."  Hence  it  was  clear  that  it  was  "to  be 
considered  an  unfortunate  accident."  The  German  Govern- 
ment expressed  its  regret,  and  was  ready  to  "make  compensa- 
tion for  damages"  sustained. 

Another  attack,  this  time  with  the  loss  of  American  citizens, 
which  had  been  passed  by  in  silence  was  that  on  the  Dominion 
liner  Armenian. 

When  the  facts  were  revealed  it  appeared  that  shortly  before 
seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  June  28,  when  off  Trevose  Head 
on  the  northwest  coast  of  Cornwall,  the  captain  of  the  Armenian 
sighted  a  submarine  and  attempted  to  escape.  The  submarine 
gave  chase,  firing  as  she  came  on,  and  at  the  end  of  an  hour, 
when  thirteen  of  the  crew  of  the  Armenian  lay  dead  on  deck 
and  the  vessel  was  on  fire,  the  Captain  surrendered.  Ample 
time  was  allowed  the  crew  to  take  to  the  boats  before  she  was 
torpedoed  and  sunk.  Those  who  were  killed,  died  of  wounds, 
or  were  drowned  numbered  nineteen,  of  whom  eleven  were 
Americans.  The  vessel  was  on  her  way  from  Newport  News, 
Virginia,  to  Avonmouth  with  1422  mules;  of  the  Americans 
many  were  negro  muleteers. 

Here  was  a  case  of  a  British  vessel  carrying  contraband  of 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  121 

war,  and  when  attacked  seeking  to  escape,  carrying  no  passen- 
gers and  engaged  in  Admiralty  business.  These  facts  greatly 
simplified  the  situation  and  left  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  nothing  to  complain  of  save  the  barbarous  method  of  sub- 
marine warfare  which  made  it  impossible  to  care  for  human 
life.  "Nothing,"  said  the  President  in  his  Lusitania  note  of 
June  9,  "but  active  forcible  resistance,  or  continued  effort  to 
escape  by  flight  when  ordered  to  stop,  on  the  part  of  the  mer- 
chantman has  ever  been  held  to  forfeit  the  lives  of  her  passen- 
gers and  crew."  "The  Armenian  had  made  continued  effort  to 
escape  by  flight." 

The  next  to  escape  was  the  Orduna.  She  left  Liverpool 
July  8,  with  a  crew  of  265  and  a  passenger  list  of  227,  of  whom 
21  were  Americans.  Early  on  the  morning  of  July  9,  when 
about  37  miles  south  of  Queenstown,  a  German  submarine, 
without  warning,  fired  a  torpedo  which  missed  the  stern  by  a 
few  feet.  The  Orduna  fled,  and  the  submarine,  rising  to  the 
surface,  gave  chase,  shelling  as  she  pursued  till  the  Orduna  was 
out  of  reach.  July  17,  a  few  days  after  the  Nebraskan  note, 
the  Orduna,  reached  New  York. 

The  President,  as  he  said  he  would,  having  "maturely  con- 
sidered the  situation"  produced  by  the  German  note  of  July 
8,  made  his  reply  on  the  twenty-first. 

The  note  from  the  Imperial  German  Government  he  was 
obliged  to  say  was  "unsatisfactory  because  it  fails  to  meet  the 
real  differences  between  the  two  governments,  and  indicates 
no  way  in  which  the  accepted  principles  of  law  and  humanity 
may  be  applied  in  the  grave  matter  in  controversy,  but  proposes, 
on  the  contrary,  arrangements  for  a  partial  suspension  of  those 
principles  which  virtually  set  them  aside."  The  Government 
of  the  United  States  "noted  with  satisfaction"  that  the  Imperial 
Government  recognized  that  "the  high  seas  are  free" ;  that  the 
character  and  cargo  of  a  merchant  ship  must  be  known  before 
she  can  lawfully  be  destroyed ;  that  the  lives  of  noncombatants 
must  in  no  case  be  put  in  jeopardy  unless  the  vessel  resists  or 
tries  to  escape.  But  it  regrets  that  the  Imperial  Government 
regards  itself  "as  in  a  large  degree  exempt"  from  the  observance 
of  these  principles,  "even  when  neutral  vessels  are  concerned," 
Because  of  the  acts  of  Great  Britain. 


122     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"Illegal  and  inhuman  acts,  however  justifiable  they  may  be 
thought  to  be  against  an  enemy  who  is  believed  to  have  acted  in 
contravention  of  law  and  humanity,  are  manifestly  indefensible 
when  they  deprive  neutrals  of  their  acknowledged  rights,  par- 
ticularly when  they  violate  the  right  to  life  itself."  If  a  bellig- 
erent could  not  retaliate  without  injury  to  the  lives  and 
property  of  neutrals,  "a  due  regard  for  the  dignity  of  neutral 
powers  should  dictate  that  the  practice  be  discontinued."  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  ready  to  make  reasonable 
allowances  for  the  novel  aspects  of  submarine  war,  but  could 
not  consent  to  abate  any  essential  right  of  its  people  "because  of 
a  mere  alteration  in  circumstances." 

Events  of  the  last  two  months  had  shown  that  submarine 
operations  in  the  so-called  war  zone  could  be  conducted  accord- 
ing to  the  "accepted  practices  of  regulated  warfare." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  could  not  "accept  the 
suggestion"  that  certain  vessels  be  designated  which  should  be 
free  "on  the  seas  now  illegally  proscribed."  Such  an  agreement 
"would,  by  implication,  subject  other  vessels  to  illegal  attack" 
and  would  be  "an  abandonment  of  the  principles  for  which  this 
government  contends."  The  note  closed  with  this  warning. 
"Friendship  itself  prompts"  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  "to  say  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  that  repeti- 
tions by  the  commanders  of  German  naval  vessels  of  acts  in  con- 
travention of  those  rights  must  be  regarded  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  when  they  affect  American  citizens,  as 
deliberately  unfriendly." 

The  German-American  press  was  outspoken  in  condemna- 
tion of  the  note.  It  "bears  no  more  the  nature  of  an  ulti- 
matum," said  the  Milwaukee  Germania-Herold,  "than  can  be 
said  of  its  predecessors.  That  the  tone  is  distinctly  sharper  can- 
not be  denied,"  but  that  need  not  "disturb  us"  for  possibly 
"those  parts  in  which  Mr.  Wilson  uses  the  most  energetic  lan- 
guage are  more  for  'home  consumption'  than  for  Germany." 
According  to  the  Chicago  Staats-Z eitung  Germany  could  never 
submit  "to  the  tone  of  it,"  and  would  give  no  other  answer  than 
the  breaking  off  of  diplomatic  relations.  The  note  showed  "the 
President  will  break  with  Germany  at  all  hazards.  He  should 
first  ask  the  people  of  the  United  States  if  they  are  satisfied  to 


THE  "LUSITAXIA"  NOTES  123 

be  driven  into  war.  The  note  is  unworthy  of  the  Republic.  We 
hope  that  Germany  will  not  blame  the  people  for  the  present 
Government's  action." 

By  the  American  press  the  note  was  regarded  as  the  final 
word  to  Germany  on  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  the  sub- 
marine attacks  on  American  merchantmen.  It  was  not  an  ul- 
timatum in  form,  but  it  was  in  substance.  The  United  States 
no  longer  cared  what  Germany  said  but  what  Germany  did. 
It  swept  away  all  uncertainty  and  left  the  way  open  for  that 
"act"  so  clearly  foreshadowed  in  the  note  of  May  13.  The 
President's  position  is  this :  Whatever  your  words  may  be,  it  is 
by  your  acts  we  shall  judge  you.  We  have  drawn  a  line  across 
which  Germany  must  not  step.  The  future  is  with  Germany. 
There  will  be  no  war  unless  Germany  wills  it. 

To  the  press  in  Berlin,  indeed  in  Germany  everywhere,  the 
note  was  disappointing  and  the  words  "deliberately  unfriendly" 
offensive.  Why  the  proposals  of  Germany  were  brushed  aside 
without  even  a  counter  proposal  was  puzzling.  The  Tageblatt 
found  "Mr.  Wilson's  standpoint"  directly  opposite  "common 
sense  and  right."  It  was  useless  to  seek  for  "perfume  between 
the  thorns  in  the  American  note."  "The  American  Government 
demands  that  its  citizens  travel  in  safety  in  war  time,  where 
and  when  they  please.  If  they  sit  on  a  powder  keg,  any  one 
lighting  a  cigar  in  their  vicinity  would  be  guilty  of  an  un- 
friendly act."  The  Koelnische  Zeitung  found  the  German  and 
American  standpoints  as  far  apart  at  the  end  as  at  the  begin- 
ning. An  understanding  was  impossible.  "Germany  will 
neither  disown  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  nor  offer  indemnity 
for  the  lives  of  the  reckless  Americans  who  perished  on  the 
steamship.  Germany  will  continue  her  submarine  warfare  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  past  two  months."  The  Frankfurter 
Zeitung  declared  "Germany  cannot  afford  to  abandon  her  sub- 
marine warfare  because  of  threats,  and  if  President  Wilson  per- 
sists in  his  dogmatic  views  the  world  must  bear  the  conse- 
quences." 

That  Germany  had  no  intentions  of  yielding  to  any  demand 
was  once  more  made  apparent  by  the  sinking  of  another  Ameri- 
can ship  on  July  25.  As  the  Leelanaw  was  on  her  way  from 
Archangel  to  Belfast  with  flax,  she  was  attacked  by  a  German 


124     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

submarine  some  60  miles  north  of  the  Orkneys.  Ample  time 
was  given  the  crew  to  leave  the  ship,  and  after  the  Leelanaw 
had  been  torpedoed  and  sunk,  the  men  were  taken  aboard  the 
submarine  with  the  life  boats  in  tow.  About  half-past  eight 
in  the  evening  another  steamship  was  seen  approaching,  where- 
upon the  crew  were  ordered  into  the  boats  and  made  their  way 
to  Kirkwall.  The  cargo  was  contraband  and  foreign  owned, 
and  could  not  be  made  the  subject  of  a  claim.  But  the  ship 
was  American  owned  and  her  destruction,  as  was  that  of  the 
Frye,  was  a  violation  of  old  treaties. 

During  a  few  weeks  ruthlessness  in  submarine  warfare 
seemed  to  have  been  abandoned.  Ships  were  warned,  and  crews 
and- passengers  were  given  a  chance  for  life.  At  last  the  pro- 
tests of  the  United  States,  it  was  thought,  had  produced  some 
effect;  but  on  August  20,  when  our  countrymen  took  up  their 
morning  newspapers,  they  read  that  on  the  previous  day  the 
White  Star  liner  Arabic,  while  on  her  way  from  Liverpool  to 
New  York,  was  torpedoed  without  warning  off  the  south  coast 
of  Ireland,  not  far  from  where  the  Lusitania  went  down,  and 
sank  in  eleven  minutes.  Aboard  of  her  were  423  souls,  of  whom 
forty-four,  including  two  American  citizens,  lost  their  lives. 

That  such  an  act  should  be  committed  in  the  face  of  the 
warnings  of  February  1,  May  13,  June  9,  and  July  21,  as- 
tonished and  enraged  all  right  thinking  Americans.  The 
Arabic,  it  was  said,  was  on  her  way  to  New  York,  therefore  she 
carried  no  ammunition,  no  contraband.  Clearly  the  purpose 
of  the  submarine  commander  was  to  destroy  the  ship  and  the 
lives  of  all  on  board.  The  rights  of  our  citizens,  in  defense  of 
which  we  have  warned  Germany  we  should  omit  no  act  or  word, 
have  been  stripped  from  the'm.  In  every  detail  the  destruction 
of  the  Arabic  fulfills  President  Wilson's  definition  of  an  act 
"deliberately  unfriendly  to  the  United  States."  There  is  then 
only  one  road  open,  only  one  course  to  pursue — without  delay, 
without  further  protest  diplomatic  relations  must  be  broken  and 
the  German  Ambassador  given  his  passports. 

Jt  is  useless  to  heap  up  words  to  show  how  serious  is  the 
situation.  The  whole  tale  is  not  yet  told,  but  enough  is  known 
to  prove  that  the  submarine  commander  acted  in  defiance  of  the 
plain  warning  of  the  President.  Germany  flouts  our  claim,  de- 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  125 

nies  our  demands,  and  chooses  to  forfeit  our  friendship  and  es- 
teem. Over  all  our  country  the  press  insisted  that  the  "un- 
pardonable offense,"  the  "deliberately  unfriendly  act,"  has  been 
committed  and  Count  von  Bernstorff  must  go.  Newspapers 
everywhere,  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Richmond, 
Charleston,  Savannah,  New  Orleans,  Montgomery,  Mobile, 
Knoxville,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  Detroit,  St.  Louis, 
Duluth,  called  earnestly  for  a  severance  of  relations  and  a  firm 
support  of  the  President. 

Not  so  the  German  language  press.  "The  situation  is  seri- 
ous," said  the  New  York  Staats-Z eitung ',  "because  the  policy  of 
our  Government,  indorsed,  applauded,  pushed  and  stimulated  by 
a  pro-British  press,  which,  despite  all  protestations  of  peace, 
wantonly  excited  to  war,  carried  in  itself  the  germ  of  an  in- 
evitable conflict ;  because,  as  the  case  of  the  Arabic  again  shows, 
the  German  Government,  if  it  would  not  commit  suicide,  never 
more  will  or  can  agree  to  the  terms  of  our  Government."  Said 
the  Cincinnati  Freie  Presse,  "The  Arabic  has  carried  an  im- 
mense amount  of  war  material,  and  it  cannot  be  estimated  how 
many  German  soldiers  have  bled  as  the  result  of  wounds  re- 
ceived from  American  bullets.  Therefore  we  may  be  satis- 
fied that  the  trips  of  this  British  ammunition  ship  have  ceased. 
If  our  administration  cannot  be  persuaded  to  stop  the  unlimited 
export  of  arms  and  ammunition,  then  Germany  must  protect 
herself."  Said  the  Cincinnati  Volkesblatt,  "This  uncomfort- 
able state  of  affairs  could  easily  be  removed  by  applying  com- 
mon sense,  which  would,  and  ought  to,  induce  the  President  to 
tell  American  citizens  to  save  their  country  from  embarrass- 
ment by  traveling  under  the  American  flag."  Said  the  Louis- 
ville Anzeiger,  "So  far  we  know  nothing  except  what  the  British 
censor  passed.  We  do  not  know  the  circumstances  of  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Arabic,  but  in  spite  of  this,  the  Anglo-American 
press  breaks  into  a  clamor  for  war."  Said  the  Detroit  Abend 
Post,  "As  President  Wilson  flatly  refused  to  issue  an  embargo 
on  the  export  of  war  material,  Germany  was  justified  in  carry- 
ing on  the  war  by  submarine.  The  Arabic  was  a  swimming 
arsenal."  Said  the  Illinois  Staats-Z  eitung ,  "The  Arabic  chiefly 
carried  war  supplies  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  The  crew 
formed  a  rifle  club  and  practiced  daily  with  long-range  rifles 


126     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

of  heavy  caliber.  If  Americans  knew  this  and  used  the  boat 
just  the  same  they  are  to  bear  the  consequences  of  their  reck- 
less actions."  If  they  did  not  know  it,  England  was  to  blame. 

Mr.  Bryan  now  made  for  the  press  a  signed  statement  of  his 
views.  He  had  read  the  editorial  opinions  concerning  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Arabic  as  collected  by  a  Chicago  newspaper,  and 
thought  they  avoided  "the  most  important  question."  The  real 
question  was  not  whether  American  citizens  had  a  right  to 
travel  in  the  war  zone.  That  was  admitted.  "The  question 
just  now  is  whether  an  American  citizen  should  put  his  con- 
venience or  even  his  rights  above  his  nation's  welfare.  If 
American  citizens  refuse  to  consider  their  own  safety  or  the 
safety  of  the  nation,  then  a  second  question  arises,  namely, 
whether  the  Government  should  permit  a  few  persons  to  drag 
this  country  into  this  unparalleled  war." 

The  Government  had  made  its  protest  but  that  "did  not  nec- 
essarily mean  that  we  were  going  to  war."  Diplomacy  had  not 
yet  been  exhausted.  Even  if  it  failed  "we  have  recourse  to 
the  treaty  plan  which  must  be  resorted  to  in  case  of  disputes 
with  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy,  and  Russia,  and  should  be 
resorted  to  before  going  to  war  with  any  other  belligerent  na- 
tion." 

"If  the  treaty  plan  fails  we  still  have  a  choice  between  en- 
tering this  war  and  the  postponement  of  final  settlement  until 
peace  is  restored."  It  was  time  the  unneutral  portion  of  the 
press  put  aside  its  bias  and  helped  the  President  "keep  the 
country  out  of  war."  Pro-Ally  papers  were  insisting  on  war 
with  Germany  for  the  benefit  of  the  Allies.  The  pro-German 
papers  were  insisting  on  an  embargo  on  arms  and  ammunitions 
for  the  benefit  of  Germany.  If  the  two  groups  would  join  and 
urge  measures  to  prevent  American  citizens  from  going  on  bel- 
ligerent ships  in  the  war  zone,  and  American  passenger  ships 
from  carrying  arms  and  ammunition,  they  would  help  to  pre- 
vent war  and  enable  our  country  "to  act  as  peace-maker  when 
the  time  for  peace  arrives." 

Germany  through  her  Ambassador  asked  that  no  stand  be 
taken  until  facts  were  known. 

"So  far  no  official  information  is  available  concerning  the 
sinking  of  the  Arabic"  said  the  note.  "The  German  Govern- 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  127 

ment  trust  that  the  American  Government  will  not  take  a  def- 
inite stand  on  hearing  only  the  reports  of  one  side,  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  ^Imperial  Government,  cannot  correspond 
with  the  facts,  but  that  a  chance  will  be  given  to  Germany  to 
be  heard  equally." 

Although  the  Imperial  German  Government  does  not  doubt  the 
good  faith  of  the  witnesses  whose  statements  are  reported  by  the  news- 
papers in  Europe,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  statements 
are  naturally  made  under  excitement,  which  might  easily  produce 
wrong  impressions. 

If  Americans  should  actually  have  lost  their  lives,  this  would 
naturally  be  contrary  to  our  intentions. 

The  German  Government  would  deeply  regret  the  fact,  and  begs 
to  tender  sincerest  sympathies  to  the  American  Government. 

Many  interpretations  were  placed  on  the  note.  In  official 
circles  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  words  "if  Americans  should 
actually  have  lost  their  lives,  this  would  naturally  be  contrary 
to  our  intentions,"  were  satisfactory  so  far  as  they  went.  But 
the  Government  must  know  whether  or  not  there  was  an  inten- 
tion to  destroy  the  Arabic  without  warning,  when  bound  from 
and  not  to  England,  and  when  certainly  carrying  American  citi- 
zens. The  words  "would  deeply  regret"  and  "begs  to  tender  sin- 
cerest sympathies"  might  mean  that  Germany  intended  to  make 
such  amends  as  would  insure  a  continuance  of  good  relations. 
At  all  events  it  was  certain  that  Germany  was  anxious  to  avoid 
a  break  with  the  United  States  at  this  time. 

Much  of  the  evidence  gathered  by  Mr.  Page  having  reached 
the  Department  of  State,  it  was  announced  that  the  evidence 
was  summarized  and  sustained  six  points :  that  the  Arabic  was 
torpedoed;  that  she  was  given  no  warning;  that  she  made  no 
attempt  to  escape ;  offered  no  resistance  and  did  not  attempt  to 
ram  the  submarine;  that  there  was  no  time  to  ram  the  sub- 
marine even  if  it  had  been  seen;  and  that  there  was  not  suf- 
ficient time  to  escape  after  the  torpedo  was  first  seen. 

That  the  Government  would  suspend  action  until  Germany 
had  presented  her  side  was  a  matter  of  course.  The  action  of 
Germany  was  regarded  as  an  admission  that  the  Kaiser  was  not 
insolently  maintaining  the  right  to  sink  unarmed,  unresisting 
merchantmen.  If  he  were,  he  would  have  been  silent.  Tl:  • 


128     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

statement  of  the  German  Ambassador  was  exceedingly  en- 
couraging. "Germany,"  it  was  said,  "feels  obliged  to  offer  an 
explanation.  We  are  glad  to  hear  that  Germany  has  realized 
such  an  act  of  common  decency  was  due  us."  The  note  is  a 
"hopeful  indication  that  Berlin  has  finally  come  to  see  the 
criminal  folly  of  compelling  a  diplomatic  rupture  with  the 
United  States."  ' 

From  Berlin  came  reports  that  the  German  Government  was 
really  seriously  concerned  about  the  situation.  So  seriously 
that  the  Chancellor,  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  made  a  statement 
to  the  Associated  Press.  "As  long,"  he  said,  "as  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  sinking  of  the  Arabic  have  not  been 
fully  cleared  up,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  make  a  definite 
statement.  Thus  far  we  have  secured  no  report  about  it. 
Now,  we  do  not  even  know  whether  the  sinking  of  the  ship 
was  caused  by  a  mine  or  by  a  torpedo  fired  from  a  German  sub- 
marine, nor  do  we  know  whether  in  this  latter  case  the  Arabic 
herself  may  not  by  her  actions,  perhaps,  have  justified  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  commander  of  the  submarine. 

"Only  after  all  these  circumstances  have  been  cleared  up 
will  it  be  possible  to  say  whether  the  commander  of  one  of  our 
submarines  went  beyond  his  instructions,  in  which  case  the 
Imperial  Government  would  not  hesitate  to  give  such  complete 
satisfaction  to  the  United  States  as  would  conform  to  the 
friendly  relations  existing  between  both  Governments." 

The  people  of  Germany  knew  nothing  of  the  excitement  in 
our  country.  Save  short  telegrams  of  British  origin  nothing 
was  printed  on  the  subject:  but  officials  of  the  Foreign  Office, 
while  refusing  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  situation,  made  it 
clear  that  Germany  had  no  intention  of  defying  the  United 
States. 

August  26,  the  German  Ambassador  had  a  long  interview 
with  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  September  1,  1915,  sent  him 
a  note. 

With  reference  to  our  conversation  this  morning,  I  beg  to  inform 
you  that  my  instructions  concerning  our  answer  to  your  last  Lusi- 
tania  note  contains  the  following  passage: 

Liners  will  not  be  sunk  by  our  submarines  without  warning  and 
without  safety  of  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  provided  that  the  liners 
do  not  try  to  escape  or  offer  resistance. 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  129 

Although  I  know  that  you  do  not  wish  to  discuss  the  Lusitania 
question  until  the  Arabic  incident  has  been  definitely  and  satisfac- 
torily settled,  I  desire  to  inform  you  of  the  above  because  this  policy 
of  my  Government  was  decided  on  before  the  Arabic  incident 
occurred. 

When  making  public  this  note  Mr.  Lansing  added  the  words, 
"In  view  of  the  clearness  of  the  foregoing  statement  it  seems 
needless  to  make  any  comment  in  regard  to  it,  other  than  to  say 
that  it  appears  to  be  a  recognition  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ple for  which  we  have  contended." 

Everywhere  the  press  hailed  the  note  with  satisfaction. 
Said  the  Boston  Herald,  "For  the  President's  Delphic  phrase 
that  some  people  are  'too  proud  to  fight'  he  has  suffered  many 
a  jibe.  All  the  world  now  needs  to  know  is  that  he  did  not  fight 
when  he  might  have  done  so,  and  that  the  aim  of  his  endeavors, 
so  far  as  American  interests  on  the  sea  are  concerned,  has  been 
amply  realized."  "It  is  a  triumph  not  only  of  diplomacy  but 
of  reason,  of  right,  of  humanity,  of  justice  and  of  truth."  x  "The 
President  by  his  unyielding  devotion  to  vital  principles  of  law 
and  humanity  had  brought  peace  with  honor  out  of  the  German 
crisis."  2  "The  outcome  is  a  diplomatic  triumph  which  will 
bring  enduring  renown  to  the  administration  of  Woodrow  Wil- 
son and  put  his  critics — the  war  party  and  the  peace-at-any- 
price  party — to  confusion.  The  scene  now  shifts  to  England."  3 

The  American  Peace  and  Arbitration  League  sent  a  tele- 
gram to  the  President  begging  him  to  "Please  accept"  its  con- 
gratulations "upon  the  gratifying  outcome"  of  his  "negotiations 
with  Germany,"  and  another  to  von  Bernstorff.  The  League 
thought  "his  Imperial  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and 
your  Excellency  should  share  in  the  felicitation  which  we  most 
heartily  extend." 

In  the  midst  of  the  rejoicing,  news  came  that  just  as  dark- 
ness was  falling  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  September  4, 
the  Allan  Liner  Hesperian  with  350  passengers  and  a  crew  of 
300  men,  bound  from  Liverpool  to  Montreal,  was  torpedoed  by 
a  German  submarine  some  seventy  miles  off  Fastnet.  Most 

1  New  York  Times. 
"New  York  World. 
"Baltimore  Sun. 


130     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

happily  the  vessel  remained  afloat  and  all  were  saved  by  rescue 
steamers  called  by  wireless.  In  the  crew  of  the  Hesperian  were 
two  Americans. 

A  dispatch  from  the  American  consul  at  Queenstown  an- 
nounced that  "Admiralty  boats  landed  passengers  and  troops 
at  8.30  A.  M.  Have  returned  to  bring  Hesperian.  .  .  .  There 
were  about  45  Canadian  troops  on  board,  unorganized  and 
mainly  invalided.  Also  one  4.7  gun  mounted  and  visible  on 
stern." 

At  Washington  it  was  believed  that  the  incident,  grave  as 
it  was,  would  not  lead  to  a  renewal  of  the  crisis  between  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States.  On  September  1,  Count  von 
Bernstorff  quoted  to  Mr.  Lansing  these  words  from  the  com- 
ing German  note  on  the  Lusitania:  "Liners  will  not  be  sunk 
by  our  submarines  without  warning  and  without  safety  of  the 
lives  of  noncombatants,  providing  that  the  liners  do  not  try  to 
escape  or  offer  resistance."  In  the  face  of  such  an  assurance 
Germany  must  disavow  the  act. 

While  the  State  Department  awaited  the  facts  in  the  case 
a  wave  of  astonishment  and  indignation  swept  the  country,  and 
as  usual  found  expression  in  the  comments  of  the  newspapers. 
Some  were  sure  Germany  would  disavow  the  act  and  punish 
the  perpetrator.  She  owed  it  to  her  own  sense  of  self  respect, 
if  she  wished  to  appear  before  the  world  as  standing  up  to  her 
recent  assurance  to  our  Government.  Others  asked  did  this 
act  mean  that  Germany  intends  to  renew  and  carry  on  her  cam- 
paign of  f rightfuluess  ?  ,It  was  disheartening  that  at  the  mo- 
ment we  were  rejoicing  over  the  promise  of  a  complete  under- 
standing with  Germany,  this  reversion  to  frightfulness  should 
come  to  destroy  our  peaceful  expectations.  There  will  of  course 
be  more  explanations  and  excuses.  But  the  burden  of  proof 
is  on  Germany.  No  nation,  not  even  our  own,  can  long  endure 
such  trifling  with  its  dignity  and  honor.  In  less  than  a  week, 
it  was  said,  Germany  has  broken  her  solemn  promise.  Are 
her  promises  made  only  to  be  broken?  Was  von  Bernstorff's 
note  only  another  "scrap  of  paper"  ?  What  explanation  does 
the  Ambassador  propose  to  make?  What  apology  does  the  Im- 
perial Government  propose  to  offer?  To  blame  the  submarine 
commander  is  useless.  He  knew  thaf  if  he  sent  the  Hesperian 


THE  "LUSITANIA"  NOTES  131 

and  every  soul  on  board  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  he  would  be 
commended,  not  condemned,  by  the  Kaiser.  Nor  can  the  com- 
mander plead  a  mistake.  The  German  Government  does  not 
tolerate  mistakes  on  the  part  of  its  officers,  naval  or  military. 

The  consul  of  Queenstown,  in  his  dispatch,  said  there  were 
troops  on  board  and  a  four-inch  gun  mounted  in  the  stern. 
These  statements  were  now  seized  on  by  the  pro-German  press 
to  prove  Germany  justified.  Judging  from  the  consular  tele- 
gram, said  the  New  York  Staats-Z eitung ,  the  Hesperian,  under 
international  law,  was  not  "a  harmless  passenger  ship,"  but  "a 
war  craft,  for  the  dispatch  says  that  the  liner,  despite  the  fact 
that  she  had  criminally  taken  passengers  aboard,  was  armed. 
Doesn't  it  appear  to  be  about  time  for  Washington  to  warn 
American  citizens  of  the  dangers  that  menace  them  aboard 
British  passenger  ships?" 

"The  attack  on  the  Hesperian"  said  the  New  York  Her  old, 
'•will  scarcely  afford  the  jingoes  a  cause  of  war."  Nothing 
was  said  about  her  being  warned  but  "it  was  evidently  attempt- 
ing to  escape;  besides,  it  had  a  gun  mounted  on  deck.  These 
circumstances  will  undoubtedly  be  sufficient  to  relieve  our 
Government  of  the  necessity  of  writing  new  notes  or  putting 
new  questions  to  Germany."  Said  the  Cleveland  Wachter  und 
Anzeiger,  "Even  according  to  cable  reports,  the  Hesperian  had 
British  and  Canadian  horse  and  a  mounted  gun  on  board,  there- 
by being  an  army  transport.  So  Germany  seems  to  have  been 
well  within  her  rights  as  a  belligerent,  and  since  no  American 
lives  were  lost  it  is  a  matter  between  the  belligerents  alone, 
which  does  not  concern  America  at  all." 


CHAPTER  VI 

AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED 

As  month  followed  month  and  the  war  showed  no  signs  of 
a  speedy  ending,  there  sprang  up  in  our  country,  chiefly  in  the 
states  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  a  feeling  that  the  time  had 
come  for  the  United  States  to  prepare  for  defense.  We  have,  it 
was  said,  a  small  but  highly  trained  and  efficient  regular  army. 
We  have  a  smell  but  undoubtedly  efficient  navy,  and  a  National 
Guard  with  depleted  ranks  and  antiquated  guns  and  probably 
no  ammunition.  But  the  most  careless  observer  of  events  in 
the  old  world  must  have  seen  that  three  implements  of  war- 
fare, never  before  used,  have  made  the  means  of  defense  once 
sufficient  on  land  and  sea  now  little  better  than  useless.  These 
three  are  the  submarine,  the  aeroplane  and  the  great  siege 
guns  which  battered  down  the  forts  around  Liege.  Siege  guns 
are  not  likely  ever  to  trouble  us ;  but  have  we  submarines  and 
aeroplanes  and  heavy  long  range  guns  to  defend  our  coast, 
and  where  are  the  men  to  man  them  ?  If  it  is  necessary  to  have 
an  army  of  any  size  and  a  navy  of  any  number  of  ships,  it  is 
equally  necessary  that  the  army  and  navy  shall  be  large  enough 
and  so  equipped  with  the  very  latest  implements  of  warfare  that 
they  may  really  defend  the  country,  for  we  know  not  when  our 
day  may  come. 

That  Germany  in  her  greed  for  world  dominion  might  find 
it  necessary  to  deal  with  us  had  not  passed  unnoticed  by  her 
military  writers.  Only  a  few  years  before  this  time  General  von 
Edelsheim,  a  member  of  the  German  General  Staff,  had  duly 
considered  it  in  his  pamphlet  "Operationen  Uber  See." 

Operations  against  the  United  States  of  North  America  would 
have  to  be  conducted  in  a  different  manner.  During  the  last  years 
political  friction  with  that  state,  especially  friction  arising  from  com- 
mercial causes,  has  not  been  lacking,  and  the  difficulties  that  have 
arisen  have  mostly  been  settled  by  our  giving  way.  As  this  obliging 

132 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  133 

attitude  has  its  limit,  we  have  to  ask  ourself  what  force  we  can  pos- 
sibly bring  to  bear  in  order  to  meet  the  attacks  of  the  United  States 
against  our  interests  and  to  impose  our  will.  Our  fleet  will  probably 
be  able  to  defeat  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  which  are 
distributed  over  two  oceans,  and  over  long  distances.  But  it  would 
be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  defeat  of  their  fleet  will  force 
the  United  States  with  their  immense  resources  into  concluding 
peace.  .  .  . 

Considering  the  great  extent  of  the  United  States,  the  conquest 
of  the  country  by  an  army  of  invasion  is  not  possible.  But  enter- 
prises on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  the  conquest  of  the  most  important 
arteries  through  which  imports  and  exports  pass,  will  create  such  an 
unbearable  state  of  affairs  in  the  whole  country  that  the  Government 
will  readily  offer  acceptable  conditions  in  order  to  obtain  peace. 

If  Germany  begins  preparing  a  fleet  of  transports  and  troops  for 
landing  purposes  at  the  moment  when  the  battle  fleet  steams  out  of 
our  harbors,  we  may  conclude  that  operations  on  American  soil  can 
begin  after  about  four  weeks,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the 
United  States  will  not  be  able  to  oppose  to  us  within  that  time  an 
army  equivalent  to  our  own. 

At  present  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States  amounts  to  about 
65,000  men,  of  whom  only  about  30,000  could  be  used.  Of  them 
about  10,000  are  required  for  watching  the  Indian  territories,  and 
for  guarding  the  fortifications  on  the  seacoast.  Therefore,  only  about 
20,000  men  of  the  regular  army  are  ready  for  war.  Besides,  about 
100,000  militia  are  in  existence,  of  whom  the  larger  part  did  not  come 
up  when  called  out  during  the  last  war.  Lastly,  the  militia  is  not 
efficient,  it  is  partly  armed  with  muzzle-loaders,  and  its  training  is 
worse  than  its  armament.  .  .  . 

[The]  task  of  the  fleet  would  be  to  undertake  a  series  of  large 
landing  operations  through  which  we  are  able  to  take  several  of  their 
important  and  wealthy  towns  (on  the  Atlantic  seaboard)  within  a 
brief  space  of  time.  By  interrupting  their  communications,  by  de- 
stroying all  buildings  serving  the  State,  commerce  and  defense,  by 
taking  away  all  material  for  war  and  transport,  and  lastly,  by  levying 
heavy  contributions,  we>  should  be  able  to  inflict  damage  on  the  United 
States.1 

While  the  need  of  preparedness  was  under  discussion,  Mr. 
Gardner,  a  representative  from  Massachusetts,  brought  the 
matter  before  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  on  October  15, 
1914,  by  offering  a  joint  resolution  providing  for  a  National 
Security  Commission,  to  ascertain  if  the  United  States  is  pre- 
pared for  war. 

1  "Modern  Germany,"  J.  E.  Barker,  1912. 


The  United  States,  he  said,  is  totally  unprepared  for  a  war, 
defensive  or  offensive,  against  a  real  power.  We  have  been 
trying  to  believe  that  no  one  would  dare  to  attack  us;  but  are 
we  so  sure  of  this  in  view  of  what  is  happening  in  Europe  ? 
We  are  the  most  prosperous  nation  on  earth  and  to  the  south 
of  us  lies  the  wonderful  South  American  Continent,  which  we 
have  closed  to  European  colonization  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
This  doctrine  cannot  be  maintained  unless  we  are  ready  to  fight 
for  it.  Does  any  one  suppose  that  if,  after  the  war,  Germany 
finds  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  her  way,  she  will  pay  the  slight- 
est attention  to  it,  if  the  increase  of  her  population  forces  her 
to  look  for  colonial  outlet? 

"But  no  matter  which  side  wins,  we  must  remember  that 
since  the  beginning  of  time  victorious  nations  have  proved 
headstrong  and  highhanded.  We  must  begin  at  once  to  re- 
organize our  military  strength  if  we  expect  to  be  able  to  resist 
highhandedness  when  the  day  of  necessity  comes."  The  resolu- 
tion went  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  and  -nothing  more  was 
heard  of  it  during  the  session. 

General  Leonard  Wood,  speaking  to  the  Medical  Club  of 
Philadelphia,  declared  we  had  never  fought  "a  really  first  class 
nation"  and  were  "pitifully  unprepared,  should  such  a  calamity 
be  thrust  upon  us."  The  regular  army  numbered  but  103,000 
men,  scattered  through  China,  Alaska,  the  Philippines,  Hawaii 
and  the  United  States.  Should  war  descend  on  us  suddenly,  as 
it  did  on  Europe,  the  regular  army  "available  to  face  such  a 
crisis"  would  be  "just  about  equal  to  the  police  forces  of  Boston, 
New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago." 

The  administration  at  this  time  saw  no  need  for  such  an 
investigation  as  Mr.  Gardner  wished.  Indeed,  after  an  inter- 
view with  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  on  the  eve  of  the 
meeting  of  Congress  in  December,  the  President  was  reported 
to  have  authorized  the  statement  that  he  thought  the  method 
proposed  an  unwise  way  of  handling  a  question  that  might  cre- 
ate a  very  unfavorable  international  impression. 

What  were  the  views  of  the  President  was  clearly  stated 
in  his  speech  to  Congress  on  December  8,  1914: 

It  is  said  in  some  quarters  that  we  are  not  prepared  for  war.    What 
is  meant  by  being  prepared  ?    Is  it  meant  that  we  are  not  ready  upon 


AX  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  135 

brief  notice  to  put  a  nation  in  the  field,  a  nation  of  men  trained  to 
arms?  Of  course  we  are  not  ready  to  do  that,  and  we  shall  never 
be  in  time  of  peace  so  long  as  we  retain  our  present  political  princi- 
ples and  institutions.  And  what  is  it  that  it  is  suggested  that  we 
should  be  prepared  to  do  ?  To  defend  ourselves  against  attack  ?  We 
have  always  found  means  to  do  that,  and  shall  find  them  whenever 
it  is  necessary  without  calling  our  people  away  from  their  necessary 
tasks  to  render  compulsory  military  service  in  times  of  peace.  .  .  . 

[We  were  at  peace  with  all  the  world,  did  not  dread  the  power  of 
any  nation,  were  not]  "jealous  of  rivalry  in  the  fields  of  commerce," 
[meant  to  live  and  let  live].  We  are  a  true  friend  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  world,  because  we  threaten  none,  covet  the  possessions  of  none, 
desire  the  overthrow  of  none.  .  .  .  We  are  the  champions  of  peace 
and  of  concord.  And  we  should  be  very  jealous  of  this  distinction 
which  we  have  sought  to  earn.  .  .  . 

From  the  first  we  have  had  a  clear  and  settled  policy  with  regard 
to  military  establishments.  We  never  have  had,  and  while  we  retain 
our  present  principles  and  ideals  we  never  shall  have,  a  large  stand- 
ing army.  If  asked,  are  you  ready  to  defend  yourselves?  we  reply, 
Most  assuredly,  to  the  utmost ;  and  yet  we  shall  not  turn  America  into 
a  military  camp.  We  will  not  ask  our  young  men  to  spend  the  best 
years  of  their  lives  making  soldiers  of  themselves.  .  .  .  We  must 
depend  in  every  time  of  national  peril,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past, 
not  upon  a  standing  army,  nor  yet  upon  a  reserve  army,  but  upon  a 
citizenry  trained  and  accustomed  to  arms. 

Men  of  every  shade  of  opinion,  pacifists  and  advocates  of 
preparedness,  anti-militarists,  pro-Germans  and  German- 
Americans,  now  made  haste  to  organize  and  urge  their  views. 
One  evening  in  early  December  some  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men  of  affairs  in  the  city  of  New  York  met  and  founded  the 
National  Security  League.  Their  purpose  was  to  obtain  by 
investigation  exact  information  as  to  the  condition  of  our 
military  and  naval  defenses;  find  out  how  much  the  present 
annual  appropriation  for  this  purpose  would  have  to  be  in- 
creased to  secure  the  utmost  efficiency;  and  bring  about  such 
organizations  of  our  citizens  the  country  over,  "as  may  make 
practical  an  intelligent  expression  of  public  opinion  and  may 
insure  for  the  nation  an  adequate  system  of  national  defense." 

Scarcely  had  the  National  Security  League  been  founded 
when  a  meeting  called  by  Bishop  Greer,  President  Butler 
of  Columbia  University  in  the  City  of  New  York,  Mr.  Yillard 
and  others,  formed  the  American  League  to  Limit  Armament, 


136     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

and  "voice  a  protest  against  agitation  for  increased  armament 
in  this  country."  The  day  Congress  assembled  bills  and  joint 
resolutions  bearing  on  the  war  were  offered  in  both  Senate  and 
House.  From  Mr.  Lodge  in  the  Senate  came  a  joint  resolution, 
similar  to  that  of  Mr.  Gardner,  providing  for  a  National  Se- 
curity Commission  of  three  Senators,  three  Representatives 
and  three  civilians  to  investigate  and  report  on  the  need  of  na- 
tional preparedness.  Senator  Hitchcock  offered  a  bill  making 
it  unlawful  and  a  breach  of  neutrality  for  any  person,  part- 
nership or  corporation  to  sell  or  deliver  arms,  ammunition,  ar- 
tillery, explosives  of  any  sort  whatever  to  be  used  against  a 
country  with  which  the  United  States  is  at  peace,  or  even  ex- 
port them  unless  sworn  proof  that  they  were  not  to  be  used 
against  such  a  country  was  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  Com- 
merce. December  8,  1914,  Mr.  Lobeck  offered  a  similar  bill  in 
the  House.  December  10,  Senator  Works  of  California  offered 
a  bill  to  make  it  unlawful  for  any  person,  corporation  or  as- 
sociation, a  citizen  or  resident  of,  or  doing  business  in  the 
United  States,  to  contract  for,  sell,  supply  or  furnish  to  any  na- 
tion engaged  in  war,  or  its  armies,  or  soldiers,  any  food,  cloth- 
ing, supplies,  arms,  ammunition,  horses,  or  war  supplies  of  any 
kind  whether  they  were  or  were  not  contraband. 

When  speaking  on  the  subject  of  his  bill  a  few  days  later 
the  Senator  read  from  "the  proof  of  an  editorial"  that  was  to 
appear  in  the  Journal  of  the  Knights  of  Labor: 

Ever  since  the  war  began,  [said  the  writer,]  we  find  everywhere 
expressed  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  people  that  we  are  to  gain  greater 
prosperity  thereby,  and  are  to  become  richer  by  the  vast  trading  which 
it  is  claimed  is  thereby  opened  to  us.  Now  this  is  all  very  well  and 
proper  under  certain  circumstances.  But  if  the  sending  of  our  exports 
abroad  has  a  tendency  to  aid  the  combatants  and  to  continue  the  war- 
fare in  Europe,  then,  if  we  square  our  actions  with  our  words,  we 
will  not  send  these  warring  peoples  a  dollar's  worth  of  our  products 
until  they  stop  fighting.  We  are  a  lot  of  greedy  hypocrites  as  long 
as  we  express  our  desire  for  peace  in  Europe  and  at  the  same  time 
continue  to  send  the  nations  at  war  there  munitions  of  war  or  provi- 
sions which  enable  them  to  continue  their  warfare.  The  supply  should 
be  stopped.  Will  we  do  this  thing?  The  answer  is  we  shall  not  do 
this  thing  because  our  protestations  and  prayers  for  peace  are  in  the 
main  sheer  hypocrisy  and  beneath  them  all  lies  unbounded  greed. 
Every  shipment  of  wheat,  corn,  flour,  meat  should  be  stopped.  Then 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  137 

it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  their  armies  to  be  fed,  and  so  great 
would  be  the  needs  and  necessity  of  the  working  masses  there  that 
the  cry  for  bread  would  drown  out  all  thoughts  of  war. 

The  writer  therefore  strongly  urged  the  passage  of  Sena- 
tor Work's  bill. 

Senator  Chamberlain  presented  a  bill  to  establish  a  Council 
of  National  Defense  composed  of  the  Secretaries  of  State,  War 
and  Navy  and  the  Chairmen  of  the  Appropriation,  Military, 
Naval  and  Foreign  Affairs  committees  of  the  Senate  and 
House. 

The  wishes  of  German- Americans  found  expression  in  joint 
resolutions  offered  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Vollmer  and  Mr.  Bart- 
holdt,  forbidding  the  export  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  muni- 
tions of  war  from  the  territory  or  any  seaport  of  the  United 
States. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  in  Washington  in  January, 
1915,  of  the  Biennial  Congress  of  the  American  Peace  Society, 
it  was  resolved  that  "we  do  not  favor,  and  we  do  not  believe  the 
people  of  this  country  will  favor,  a  policy  which,  will  bring 
about  the  glorification  and  enrichment  of  a  few  at  the  expense 
of  the  many.  We  believe  that  at  this  moment  when  militarism 
is  destroying  itself  rapidly  in  Europe,  it  is  inopportune,  il- 
logical and  a  betrayal  of  the  higher  interests  of  civilization  for 
America  to  declare  itself  more  strongly  than  heretofore  on 
the  side  of  force." 

The  German- American  Alliance  at  Minneapolis  telegraphed 
a  member  of  the  House,  "In  the  name  of  Christian  humanity 
and  the  spirit  of  neutrality  we  beg  your  support  for  Bartholdt's 
bill  aiming  to  stop  munitions  of  war  from  America  reaching 
Europe."  Dr.  Hexamer,  President  of  the  National  German- 
American  Alliance,  went  to  Washington  and  appeared  before 
the  Committee  in  charge  of  the  Bartholdt  resolution  and  urged 
its  adoption. 

The  recently  formed  American  Neutrality  League  of  Phila- 
delphia now  announced  that  a  great  neutrality  meeting  would 
be  held  on  the  evening  of  January  28,  1915,  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  League  invited  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  to  be 
one  of  the  Vice-Presidents.  The  purpose  of  the  meeting,  the 
Secretary  said,  was  to  urge  "that  no  violation  of  neutrality  on 


138     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  part  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  be  permitted  by 
the  National  Government,  and  to  advocate  the  passage  of  laws 
to  prevent  the  shipping  of  munitions  to  any  belligerent  nation 
by  any  individual  firm  or  corporation  within  the  United  States." 

From  information  which  has  come  to  me. lately,  both  in  Washing- 
ton and  here,  [Bishop  Rhinelander  replied,]  I  have  learned  that  most 
of  the  agitation  at  present  being  made  to  prevent  the  shipping  of  war 
material  from  this  country  to  belligerent  nations  is  being  made,  not 
really  in  the  interest  of  neutrality,  but  in  hostility  to  the  allied 
nations,,  and  with  the  hope  of  helping  Germany  and  Austria  in  their 
campaign.  Is  the  proposed  meeting  here  fairly  chargeable  with  the 
same  purpose,  and  if  not,  is  there  any  available  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary with  which  you  can  provide  me? 

As  an  American  citizen  pledged  to  uphold  American  ideals,  I  am 
altogether  against  Germany  and  Austria  in  this  war,  on  the  ground 
that  they  are  threatening,  and  would  destroy,  as  far  as  they  have 
opportunity,  those  political  and  personal  liberties  and  rights  which  we 
Americans  have  made  the  foundation  of  our  government. 

Feeling  as  I  do,  you  will  readily  understand  that  I  cannot  have 
part  in  any  meeting  or  movement  which  has  for  its  real  object, 
whether  or  not  explicitly  avowed,  the  support  of  a  cause,  to  which  I 
personally  am  resolutely  opposed. 

This  patriotic  letter  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  showed 
that  the  Bishop  "is  a  partisan,  and,  of  course,  that  would  make 
him  ineligible  to  act  as  vice-president  of  a  neutrality  meeting." 

The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  the  house 
was  packed  with  German-Americans,  and  a  great  throng  of 
men  and  women  unable  to  enter  the  building  was  turned  into 
an  overflow  meeting  which  showed  its  neutrality  by  singing 
Die  Wacht  am  Rhein  and  Deutschland  Uber  Alles.  Within 
doors  Governor  Brumbaugh  presided,  Congressmen  Yollmer, 
Metz  and  Porter  made  bitter  anti-British  speeches,  and  the 
crowd  went  through  the  form  of  adopting  these  resolutions: 

With  deep  feeling  of  sympathy  for  the  victims  of  the  horrible  war 
now  going  on  in  which  millions  of  men  are  engaged,  we  citizens  of  the 
United  States  in  mass  meeting  assembled  appeal  to  our  President,  to 
our  Senators  and  Congressmen,  to  perform  one  of  the  greatest  acts 
of  mercy  that  it  has  ever  been  in  the  power  of  a  President  and  Con- 
gress to  perform. 

Let  the  tear-bedimmed  eyes  of  the  mothers  of  all  nations  now  at 
war  be  dried  by  a  chivalrous  act  of  the  Government  of  the  greatest  of 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  139 

the  nations,  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  of  all  lands.  With  that  hope 
in  view,  with  charity  for  all  and  malice  for  none,  we  urge  that  real 
neutrality  be  enforced  by  the  Government  of  these  United  Stetes. 

We  hold  that  real  neutrality  can  only  be  enforced  by  the  placing 
of  an  embargo  on  all  supplies  of  war  that  can  in  any  way  be  used  by 
any  of  the  belligerents  to  further  continue  the  present  conflict. 

We  hold  that  such  an  embargo  if  rigidly  enforced  will  bring  about 
a  speedy  termination  of  the  war,  and  restore  to  millions  of  suffering 
people  peace  and  happiness. 

Therefore  be  it  resolved:  That  we  earnestly  urge  and  call  on  all 
our  fellow  citizens  to  demand  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  will 
empower  our  President  to  enforce  a  real  neutrality  so  that  peace  may 
be  brought  about  among  the  warring  nations. 

Two  days  later,  January  30,  another  meeting  of  Germans 
and  German  sympathizers  was  held  at  Washington.  Mr. 
Bartholdt  presided  and  among  his  fellow  workers  were  Congress- 
men Lobeck,  Vollmer  and  Porter.  Then  and  there  was  formed 
the  American  Independence  Union,  to  secure  "genuine  Ameri- 
can neutrality  and  to  uphold  it  free  from  commercial,  financial 
and  political  subserviency  to  foreign  powers."  Resolutions 
adopted  demanded  "an  American  cable  controlled  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States"  in  order  "to  insure  the  pos- 
session of  an  independent  news  service" ;  a  free  and  open  sea. 
"for  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  and  unrestricted  traf- 
fic in  noncontraband  goods  as  defined  by  law" ;  the  "immediate 
enactment  of  legislation  prohibiting  the  export  of  arms,  am- 
munition and  munitions  of  war,"  as  .a  "strictly  American 
policy,"  and  the  "establishment  of  an  American  merchant  ma- 
rine." That  these  things  might  be  secured,  "we  pledge  our- 
selves individually  and  collectively  to  support  only  such  candi- 
dates for  public  office,  irrespective  of  party,  who  will  place 
American  interests  above  those  of  any  other  country  and  who 
will  aid  in  eliminating  all  undue  foreign  influence  from  of- 
ficial life." 

The  real  purpose  of  this  and  all  similar  pro-German  leagues 
and  associations  was  to  carry  on  a  propaganda  in  behalf  of  the 
Central  Powers,  to  start  a  popular  agitation  against  the  ex- 
port of  munitions  of  war  to  the  Allies,  by  appeals  to  humanity, 
to  feelings  of  resentment  against  Great  Britain  for  her  re- 
strictions on  American  commerce,  and  by  charges  that  we  were 


140     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

not  truly  neutral  so  long  as  British  supremacy  on  the  sea  pre- 
vented Germany  from  also  buying  munitions  of  war  in  our 
markets.  That  Germany  needed  to  buy  arms  and  ammunition 
from  us,  or  would  have  bought  any  save  to  prevent  them  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Allies,  is  beyond  all  probability.  A  news- 
paper in  commenting  on  this  meeting  said  with  truth, 

With  a  persistence  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  German  sympathizers 
in  this  country,  hyphenated  and  plain,  are  trying  to  involve  the  people 
of  the  United  States  in  the  European  war.  The  conference  at  Wash- 
ington, Saturday,  January  30,  with  the  professed  purpose  of  forming 
a  national  agency  to  reestablish  genuine  American  neutrality,  may 
obtain  the  cooperation  of  well-meaning  and  short-sighted  advocates 
of  peace,  but  its  pledge  to  take  international  questions  into  national 
politics  is  intended  to  serve  Germany  only. 

To  form  such  associations  now  became  a  craze  and  before 
six  months  passed  away  the  American  Truth  Society,  American 
Peaceful  Embargo  Society,  Friends  of  Peace,  Friends  of  Truth, 
Labor's  National  Peace  Council  and  the  Women's  Peace  Party 
sprang  into  existence. 

The  Women's  Peace  Party  had  for  its  objects  the  imme- 
diate calling  of  a  convention  of  neutrals  in  aid  of  early  peace, 
limitation  of  armaments  and  the  nationalization  of  their  manu- 
facture, the  organization  of  opposition  to  militarism  in  our 
country,  popular  control  of  our  foreign  policy,  humanizing 
government  through  woman  suffrage;  replacing  the  "balance 
of  power"  by  a  concert  of  nations ;  gradual  substitution  of  law 
for  war  and  international  police  for  rival  armies  and  navies; 
removal  of  the  economic  causes  of  war,  and  the  appointment  by 
our  Government  of  a  commission  of  men  and  women  to  pro- 
mote peace  among  all  nations. 

Of  all  the  efforts  to  bring  world  peace  the  strangest  was  that 
set  afoot  by  Mr.  Henry  Ford.  A  rumor  which  came  from  De- 
troit and  went  the  rounds  of  the  press  declared  he  was  ready 
to  spend  ten  million  dollars  in  the  cause  of  peace  and  anti- 
militarism.  Nothing  was  known  of  his  plans  .until  late  in  No- 
vember, 1915,  it  was  announced  at  New  York  that  negotiations 
had  been  opened  with  the  Scandinavian- American  Line  for  the 
charter  of  the  steamship  Oscar  II  to  carry  a  peace  party  to 
Europe  to  attempt  to  end  the  war.  Pacifists,  peace-at-any- 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  141 

price  men  and  women,  representatives  of  peace  societies  were 
to  be  invited  to  go  as  guests  of  Mr.  Ford,  to  some  place  in  a 
neutral  country,  there  to  meet  with  friends  of  peace  from  all 
the  neutral  nations  of  Europe. 

"We  wish  to  have  an  organization,"  his  manager,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Chicago  Peace  Society,  was  reported  to  have  said, 
"to  which  the  warring  nations  can  appeal  as  soon  as  they  are 
ready  for  peace.  Also  we  will  send  out  feelers,  unofficially,  to 
learn  just  what  chances  there  are  to  get  them  together." 

"I  hope,"  said  Mr.  Ford,  "that  every  mother  in  the  world 
will  bring  all  the  pressure  she  can  to  bear  on  every  one  in  order 
that  the  boys  can  be  brought  out  of  the  trenches  by  Christmas 
and  the  war  ended."  Great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  President  to  call  a  conference  of  neutral  nations  to  urge 
peace  and  thousands  of  telegrams  reading,  "Work  for  Peace, 
the  mothers  of  America  pray  for  it,"  were  sent  to  the  White 
House.  Men  and  women  of  note  and  prominence,  ex-President 
Taft,  Mr.  Edison,  Mr.  Bryan,  Miss  Jane  Addams,  the  Govern- 
ors of  North  Carolina,  of  Georgia,  Mississippi,  North  Dakota, 
Indiana  and  a  host  of  others  were  invited.  Many  declined ;  but 
when  the  Peace  Ship  was  about  to  sail  there  had  been  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  139  men  and  women,  advocates 
of  peace,  newspaper  correspondents,  students  from  various  col- 
leges, members  of  the  staff  and  moving  picture  men.  Not  half 
a  dozen  were  known  by  name  to  the  p'ublic  at  large.  No  plan 
for  procedure  had  yet  been  made.  "All  we  know,"  said  Mr. 
Ford,  "is  that  the  fighting  nations  are  sick  of  war,  that  they 
want  to  stop,  and  that  they  are  waiting  only  for  some  disin- 
terested party  to  step  in  and  offer  mediation.  Some  people  in 
this  world  have  seen  fit  to  be  skeptical  about  the  success  of  our 
plan,  but  when  we  return  I  think  they  will  change  their  views."2 

Mr.  Bryan,  who  came  to  see  the  party  off,  was  in  heartv 
sympathy  with  the  peace  movement  and  hoped  to  join  later 
at  The  Hague. 

Mr.  Ford  is  making  an  earnest  and  unselfish  effort  in  behalf  of 
peace  and  he  ought  to  have  the  good  wishes  and  sympathetic  support 
of  all  who  desire  peace,  even  though  some  may  not  fully  share  his 
faith  in  the  immediate  success  of  thia  trip.  Of  course  those  who 

Philadelphia  Press,  December  4,  1915. 


142     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

want  the  war  to  continue  ridicule  the  effort,  especially  those  who 
speak  for  big  munition  factories  which  are  exporting  war  material 
at  a  large  profit.  This  was  to  be  expected. 

Ridicule  is  the  favorite  weapon  of  those  who  desire  to  oppose 
any  nlovement.  If  any  of  the  people  on  the  Ark  had  been  making 
money  out  of  the  flood,  they  probably  would  have  ridiculed  Noah  for 
sending  out  the  dove.  Success  to  Mr.  Ford  and  companions!  May 
they  return  with  an  olive  branch. 

The  sailing  of  the  Ark  of  Peace  aroused  comment  abroad. 
A  request  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  that  an  intima- 
tion be  sent  to  Mr.  Ford  and  party  that  this  peace  mission  to 
England  would  be  "irritating  and  unwelcome  at  the  present 
time"  brought  from  the  Parliamentary  Under-Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs  the  reply  that  the  passports  issued  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  peace  party  were  for  neutral  countries  only  and 
the  contingency  feared  could  not  arise.  "Speaking  for  myself, 
I  think  it  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  undignified  for 
the  Government  of  this  country  to  send  any  intimation  to  a  lot 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen  who,  whatever  their  merits  may  be,  are 
of  no  particular  importance."  To  the  German  press  the  expedi- 
tion seemed  but  an  instance  of  American  eccentricity. 

December  4  the  Oscar  II  sailed  from  New  York,  was 
stopped  by  the  British  and  taken  into  Kirkwall  in  the  Orkney 
Islands,  was  released  after  a  short  detention  and  made  port 
at  Christiania.  The  party  having  landed,  Mr.  Ford  said, 
"Every  nation  in  the  world  will  now  look  upon  the  American 
peace  pilgrims  as  taking  the  initiative  in  stopping  history's 
worst  war.  The  landing  of  the  peace  expedition  in  Europe  will 
be  recorded  as  one  of  the  most  benevolent  things  the  American 
Republic  ever  did."  3  Eager  as  were  the  members  of  the  party 
for  peace  in  Europe  they  could  not  keep  peace  among  them- 
selves. Already  the  party  was  split.  At  Christiania  it  was  hos- 
pitably but  unofficially  received,  excited  no  enthusiasm  and  was 
not  recognized  by  the  Norwegian  peace  party.  Mr.  Ford  fell  ill 
and  while  the  rest  of  the  party  went  on  to  Stockholm  he  re- 
turned to  Bergen  and  sailed  for  home. 

Thus  Christmas  night  came  with  the  boys  still  in  the 
trenches,  with  Mr.  Ford  on  his  way  home,  and  the  party  in 
charge  of  a  General  Manager  and  a  Committee  of  Administra- 
•  Philadelphia  Press,  December  20,  1915. 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  143 

tion,  and  as  yet  without  any  plan  for  promoting  peace.  An- 
nouncement was  therefore  made  that  a  plan  drawn  up  with 
the  aid  of  men  versed  in  international  law  would  be  submitted 
to  the  warring  nations.  If  rejected  or  ignored  it  would  be  modi- 
fied and  offered  again  and  again  until  persistence  attracted  at- 
tention. 

At  Copenhagen,  whither  the  party  went  from  Stockholm, 
peace  meetings  were  forbidden  for  the  Danish  Government 
would  not  allow  aliens  to  lecture  on  the  war  or  the  belligerent 
powers.  Unless  Germany  would  permit  the  pilgrims  to  cross 
her  territory  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  by  vessel  from  Copen- 
hagen to  The  Hague.  The  prospect  of  a  trip  through  the  mine 
sown  North  Sea  was  far  from  agreeable  and  the  German  Min- 
ister was  requested  to  obtain  leave  for  the  party  to  travel  by 
train  without  stop.  Although  their  passports  did  not  allow 
them  to  travel  in  a  belligerent  country,  consent  was  given  pro- 
vided the  doors  of  the  cars  were  sealed,  that  no  written,  printed 
or  typewritten  papers,  cameras,  post  cards,  opera  glasses  or  gold 
coin  were  taken  out  of  Denmark.  At  the  end  of  a  week  the  col- 
lege students  were  sent  home  and  a  few  days  later  some  seventy 
members  of  the  peace  party  sailed  on  the  Rotterdam  for  New 
York,  leaving  behind  a  committee  known  as  the  Neutral  Confer- 
ence for  Continuous  Mediation.  The  Committee  moved  to 
Stockholm  where  it  addressed  a  letter  to  the  belligerents  sug- 
gesting ways  of  ending  the  war,  and  another  to  neutrals  urg- 
ing that  a  conference  for  mediation  be  called. 

Congress  having  adjourned  on  March  4,  1915,  without 
enacting  a  law  forbidding  the  sale  or  export  of  arms,  ammuni- 
tion and  foodstuffs  to  the  Allies,  German- Americans  and  pro- 
Germans  determined  to  attack  the  supply  of  such  articles  at 
the  source  and  took  up  the  task  of  crippling  the  plants  where 
the  materials  of  warfare  were  made  and  one  day  in  early  April, 
1915,  published  in  the  newspapers  an  "Appeal  to  the  American 
People."  The  signers  were  the  owners,  or  editors,  of  389  news- 
papers published  in  foreign  languages,  in  Polish,  Hungarian, 
Slav,  Greek,  Arabic,  Lithuanian,  Kuthenian,  Croatian,  Yid- 
dish, Syrian,  in  short,  in  all  the  languages  and  dialects  of 
Europe,  and  called  on  the  working  men  to  cease  making 
powder,  shrapnel,  shells  and  cartridges. 


144     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Because,  the  signers  said,  of  the  receipt  of  "hundreds  of 
thousands  of  letters,  cables,  messages,  containing  "heartbroken 
appeals,  prayers  and  pleas  from  the  people  of  our  mother 
countries,"  the  editors  and  publishers  had  decided  to  appeal  to 
"the  great  American  People  on  behalf  of  our  readers,"  "to  the 
high-minded  and  courageous  American  press,"  to  the  makers  "of 
powder,  shrapnel  and  cartridges,"  to  "the  workmen  engaged  in 
the  plants  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  ammunition  for  use 
by  the  nations  at  war  to  immediately  cease  making  powder, 
shrapnel  and  cartridges  destined  to  destroy  our  brothers, 
widow  our  sisters  and  mothers  and  orphan  their  children." 
They  appealed  especially  "to  American  manufacturers  and 
their  workmen  engaged  in  manufacturing  any  of  these  articles 
to  suspend  at  once  the  manufacture  of  powder  and  bullets 
which  are  being  made  for  the  cruel  and  inhumane  purpose  of 
mutilating  and  destroying  humanity."  Workmen  in  such  fac- 
tories were  urged  "even  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  positions  to  go 
on  record  as  being  unalterably  opposed  to  being  employed  for 
the  purpose  of  manufacturing  ammunition  to  shatter  the  bodies 
and  blot  out  the  lives  of  their  own  blood  relations." 

In  Chicago,  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of  this  advertise- 
ment, the  campaign  for  the  election  of  a  mayor  was  drawing  to 
a  close.  In  the  last  days  of  it,  leading  Austrians  and  Germans 
signed  a  circular  urging  voters  of  German,  Austrian  and  Hun- 
garian descent  to  vote  for  Robert  M.  Sweitze?,  the  Democratic 
candidate,  as  an  "endorsement"  of  the  war  policies  of  the 
Kaiser.  On  the  circular  were  three  flags  in  color,  and  photo- 
graphs of  the  Kaiser  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  The  letter 
stated  that  a  vote  for  Mr.  Sweitzer  was  a  vote  of  confidence  for 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  and  Emperor  Franz  Joseph  and  would  "save 
the  Fatherland." 

Most  happily  Mr.  Sweitzer  was  beaten  <by  a  plurality  of 
139,000  votes.  This  propaganda,  the  Providence  Journal  now 
declared,  was  the  work  of  the  German  Embassy,  which  was 
spending  millions  of  dollars  in  a  publicity  plot  intended  to  pro- 
duce three  results :  To  discredit  the  administration  by  creating 
a  belief  that  the  President  and  the  Cabinet  officers  are  dis- 
criminating against  Germany.  To  create  conditions  and  manu- 
facture evidence  to  show  that  the  Allies  were  breaking  the  rules 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  145 

of  neutrality,  and  then  discovering  this  evidence,  to  make  mem- 
bers of  Congress  believe  that  "all  the  foreign  elements  among 
the  voters"  were  united  in  demanding  that  the  exportation  of 
arms  and  ammunition  cease.  To  promulgate  the  "doctrine  in 
pulpits  occupied  by  German  pastors,"  and  to  coerce  newspapers 
through  "advertisers  of  German  birth  or  affiliations  throughout 
the  country." 

The  full  page  advertisement  which  had  lately  appeared  in 
many  newspapers,  protesting  against  the  sale  of  munitions  of 
war  to  the  Allies,  and  signed  by  many  publishers  of  foreign 
language  newspapers,  was  written  and  paid  for  by  agents  of 
the  German  Government.  Captain  Boy-Ed,  the  German  naval 
attache,  passed  on  the  advertisement  and  through  his  secretary 
designated  the  newspapers  in  which  it  was  to  appear. 

The  recent  election  in  Chicago  was  to  hav.e  been  a  triumph 
for  the  German  cause.  "The  German-Austrian  appeal  circu- 
lated during  the  campaign  was  proposed  in  the  German  Em- 
bassy," and  since  the  election  those  citizens  of  German  birth 
who  did  not  vote  for  Mr.  Sweitzer  had  been  roundly  abused  by 
members  of  the  Embassy  staff. 

The  President  of  the  Association  of  Foreign  Language  pe- 
riodicals denied  the  charge.  He  and  his  secretary  had  written 
the  appeal  and  together  had  made  out  the  list  of  newspapers  in 
which  it  was  to  appear.  Of  the  575  periodicals  in  the  associa- 
tion 455  had  authorized  him  to  sign  for  them,  21  had  refused 
such  authority  and  the  others  made  no  response. 

Had  proof  of  the  activity  of  the  German  Embassy  in  this 
propagandist  work  been  needed,  it  was  now  laid  before  the  peo- 
ple by  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  himself.  April  fifth  the  De- 
partment of  State  received  from  him  a  "memorandum"  pro- 
testing against  the  failure  of  the  United  States  to  force  Great 
Britain  to  release  the  Wilhelmina,  and  against  the  export  of 
arms  and  munitions  to  the  Allies,  and  one  week  after  its  re- 
ceipt, without  consulting  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Ambassa- 
dor gave  a  copy  to  the  press. 

The  British'  orders  in  council,  the  memorandum  stated,  had 
changed  the  well  established  rules  of  international  law  in  such 
"a  one-sided  manner"  that  they  arbitrarily  suppressed  neutral 
trade  with  Germany.  Before  the  American  protest  of  Decem- 


ber  28,  1914,  not  one  shipment  of  foodstuffs  had  gone  from  the 
United  States  to  Germany.  Since  that  date  one  shipment  (that 
by  the  Wilhelmina)  had  been  attempted  and  both  ship  and 
cargo  had  been  seized  by  Great  Britain.  As  a  pretext  for  the 
seizure  "the  British  Government  had  cited  a  decree  of  the  Ger- 
man Federal  Council  concerning  the  meat  trade,  although  this 
covered  grain  and  flour  and  no  other  foodstuffs,  although  im- 
portation of  all  other  foodstuffs  were  especially  excepted,  and 
the  Geriaan  Government  guaranteed  their  exclusive  consump- 
tion by  the  civil  population. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  seizure  of  an  American  ship 
was  contrary  to  international  law.  "Nevertheless  the  United 
States  Government  has  not  to  date  secured  the  release  of  the 
ship  and  has  after  the  duration  of  the  war  of  eight  months" 
been  able  to  protect  its  lawful  trade  with  Germany.  This 
seemed  equivalent  to  complete  failure,  and  the  Imperial  Em- 
bassy "must  therefore  assume  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment acquiesces  in  the  violations  of  international  law  by  Great 
Britain." 

Passing  to  "the  attitude  of  the  United  States,  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  exportation  of  arms,"  the  Ambassador  said,  Condi- 
tions in  former  wars  were  not  like  those  in  the  present  war. 
Therefore  it  was  not  fair  to  point  to  the  fact  that  in  former 
wars  Germany  had  supplied  belligerents  with  war  material. 
The  question  then  was  not  whether  any  war  material  was  to  be 
furnished  to  the  belligerents,  but  which  one  of  the  competing 
neutrals  should  furnish  it.  Now  all  nations,  save  the  United 
States,  capable  of  producing  any  important  amount  of  war 
material,  are  either  at  war,  or  completing  their  armament,  and 
have  laid  embargoes  on  the  export  of  war  material.  In  the  true 
spirit  of  neutrality  the  United  States  should  do  the  same.  On 
the  contrary  an  enormous  industry  in  war  materials  is  being- 
built  up  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  enemies  of  Germany, 
a  fact  by  no  means  modified  by  "the  theoretical  willingness  to 
supply  Germany  also,"  if  shipments  thither  were  possible. 

"If  it  is  the  will  of  the  American  people  that  there  shall  be 
a  true  neutrality,  the  United  States  will  find  means  of  prevent- 
ing this  one-sided  supply  of  arms,  or  at  least  of  utilizing  it  to 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  147 

protect  legitimate  trade  with  Germany,  especially  that  in  food- 
stuffs." 

The  memorandum  closed  with  the  reminder  that  according 
to  a  member  of  Congress,  on  February  4,  1914,  President 
Wilson  on  lifting  the  embargo  on  arms  to  Mexico  said,  "We 
should  stand  for  genuine  neutrality,"  and  that  "because  Car- 
ranza  had  no  ports,  while  Huerta  had  them  and  was  able  to  im- 
port these  materials,  that  it  was  our  duty  as  a  nation  to  treat 
(Carranza  and  Huerta)  upon  an  equality  if  we  wished  to  ob- 
serve the  true  spirit  of  neutrality  as  compared  with  a  mere  pa- 
per neutrality." 

The  more  the  memorandum  was  read  the  more  it  came  to 
be  regarded  as  an  impudent  arraignment  of  the  policy  of  the 
administration.  The  bold  condemnation  of  the  United  States 
for  its  failure  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  Wilhelmina;  the 
charge  that  it  had  done  nothing  to  safeguard  lawful  trade  with 
Germany;  the  assertion  that  this  was  equivalent  to  complete 
failure;  the  assumption  that  the  United  States  accepted  Eng- 
land's "violations  of  international  law ;"  the  complaint  that  the 
United  States  was  violating  the  true  spirit  of  neutrality;  the 
intimation  of  something  like  an  appeal  to  the  American  people 
as  against  their  Government  contained  in  the  words — "If  it  is 
the  will  of  the  American  people  that  there  shall  be  a  true  neu- 
trality, they  will  find  means  of  preventing  this  one-sided  supply 
of  arms";  the  reference  to  our  treatment  of  Huerta  and  Car- 
ranza; the  way  in  which  the  memorandum  was  given  to  the 
press,  made  the  conduct  of  the  Ambassador  most  offensive. 

Bearing  no  signature,  accompanied  by  no  statement  of  its 
source,  the  Government  and  the  people  were  left  in  doubt 
whether  the  memorandum  was  the  work  of  the  Ambassador,  or 
was  sent  under  directions  from  Berlin.  Whatever  its  source, 
there  could  be  no  doubt  that  it  correctly  expressed  the  attitude 
of  the  German  Government  and  the  German  people  towards  the 
United  States.  The  bitterness  felt  towards  our  country  by  both 
could  not  be  denied.  The  memorandum  was  but  another  effort 
to  sow  discord  between  the  United  States  and  nations  at  war 
with  Germany. 

At  Washington,  the  manner  of  publication,  without  first 
consulting  the  Government  to  which  it  was  sent.,  gave  great  of- 


148     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

fense.  Jt  was  dated  April  fourth,  was  received  on  the  fifth, 
was  in  German  and  was  sent  to  the  translator,  and  when  re- 
turned contained  matter  so  astounding  that  it  was  thought  to 
be  inexact  and  was  sent  back  and  not  returned  until  April 
ninth.  That  day  a  forecast  of  its  contents  appeared  in  the  pub- 
lic prints,  and  the  full  text  on  the  eleventh. 

Statements  of  many  sorts,  as  to  what  the  Government  would 
do,  now  became  current.  No  answer  could  be  made  until  the 
country  had  cooled  off ;  Minister  Gerard  had  been  'instructed  to 
inquire  if  the  German  Government  accepted  responsibility  for 
the  language  and  matter  of  the  memorandum.  None  of  these 
rumors  was  true,  and  all  in  good  time  the  memorandum  was  an- 
swered. 

While  the  people  waited  Dr.  Dernburg  gave  out  what 
seemed  to  be  an  inspired  letter.  He  had  been  invited  to  address 
a  meeting  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  "The  German  View  Point." 
The  speech  would  probably  have  been  badly  reported  or  not  re- 
ported at  all.  He  decided,  therefore,  to  stay  away  and  sent  a 
letter  every  word  of  which  went  the  rounds  of  the  press. 

Peace,  he  said,  when  made  should  be  no  perfunctory  patch- 
ing up,  but  of  a  lasting  sort.  A  recurrence  of  war  should  be 
made  most  remote.  The  great  highway  along  which  thoughts 
and  things  travel  is  the  high  seas.  He  could  with  authority  dis- 
claim any  ambition  on  the  part  of  his  country  to  world  domin- 
ion. Events  had  shown  that  world  dominion  could  be  secured 
only  by  dominion  of  the  high  seas.  "The  aim  of  Germany  is  to 
have  the  seas  as  well  as  the  narrows  kept  permanently  open 
for  the  free  use  of  all  nations,  in  times  of  war  as  well  as  in 
times  of  peace." 

The  sea  is  nobody's  property  and  must  be  free  to  everybody. 
But  a  free  sea  is  useless  unless  combined  with  the  freedom  of 
cable  and  mail  communication  with  all  countries,  belligerents 
or  at  peace.  He  should  like  to  see  all  cables  owned  jointly  by 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  a  world  mail  service  system  over- 
sea established  by  common  consent. 

Germany  had  been  taxed  with  disregarding  treaty  obliga- 
tions, tearing  up  as  a  scrap  of  paper  a  solemn  engagement  as 
regards  Belgium.  If  it  were  a  breach  of  international  law  at  all 
"it  has  been  followed  up  by  all  other  belligerents  by  destroying 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  149 

other  parts  of  that  code."  Two  German  men-of-war  had  been 
sunk  in  neutral  waters,  without  a  protest  by  the  United  States. 
Great  Britain's  violations  of  international  sea  law  and  the 
rights  of  neutrals  were  too  many  to  count.  Chinese  neutrality 
had  been  violated,  Egypt  and  Cyprus  had  been  annexed  by 
Great  Britain;  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  Germany  had 
been  driven  from  China,  Morocco,  Egypt,  all  sovereign  countries 
at  the  time.  There  was  virtually  no  international  law  that 
could  stand  the  test. 

Germany  was  not  seeking  territory  in  Europe.  She  did  not 
believe  in  conquering  unwilling  nations.  Belgium  commands 
the  western  outlet  of  German  trade,  is  the  natural  foreland  of 
the  Empire,  and  had  been  conquered  at  the  cost  of  untold  sacri- 
fice of  blood  and  treasure.  It  offered  to  German  trade  the  only 
outlet  to  the  sea,  and  had  been  maintained  and  defended  by  Eng- 
land in  order  to  keep  these  advantages  from  Germany.  "So 
Belgium  cannot  be  given  up." 

"However,  these  considerations  could  be  given  up  if  all  the 
other  German  demands,  especially  a  guaranteed  free  sea,  were 
fully"  granted.  Germany  is  a  country  smaller  than  California, 
but  populated  36  times  as  thickly  as  that  State.  She  loves  and 
fosters  family  life.  German  parents  have  no  desire  to  see  a 
considerable  number  of  her  children  emigrate  every  year.  This 
means  that  her  industrial  development  should  go  on  unham- 
pered. The  activity  of  her  people  should  have  an  outlet  in 
such  foreign  parts  as  need  development. 

Great  Britain  had  shown  little  foresight  in  blocking  such 
efforts,  in  putting  Morocco  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  a  na- 
tion that  has  been  stationary  for  forty-four  years.  A  lasting 
peace  "will  mean  that  this  German  activity  must  get  a  wide 
scope  without  infringement  on  the  rights  of  others."  Germany 
should  be  encouraged  to  go  on  in  Africa  and  Asia  Minor  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  world.  The  brunt  of  the  war  had  been 
borne  not  by  the  men  who  fight,  but  by  the  women  who  suffer, 
and  one  of  the  proudest  achievements  of  Germany  will  be  re- 
warding in  a  permanent  beneficiary  way  the  enormous  sacri- 
fice of  womanhood. 

That  the  letter  was  inspired  from  Berlin  was  generally  be- 
lieved. Dr.  Dernburg  had  often  insisted  that  he  held  no  of- 


150     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ficial  post.  Yet  it  seemed  beyond  belief  that  lie  should  express 
such  views  without  the  approval  of  his  Government.  That  he 
had  set  out  the  things  that  Germany  desired,  was  thought  to 
admit  of  no  doubt. 

Transmitted  to  England  the  Dernburg  Letter  was  hailed  as 
a  "trial  balloon/'  a  new  move  to  enlist  American  support  to 
Germany. 

Having  stated  the  seven  conditions  of  peace,  Dr.  Dernburg 
in  the  New  York  World  gave  ten  reasons  why  Germany  could 
not  be  beaten,  therefore  could  enforce  her  terms  when  the  time 
to  make  peace  came.  She  had  all  the  ammunition  necessary, 
held  all  the  territory  she  had  taken,  had  fortified  it  strongly  and 
could  not  be  dislodged  by  the  Allies. 

Reports  from  abroad  now  announced  that  in  the  fighting 
around  Ypres  the  Germans  had  used  asphyxiating  gas.  Con- 
cerning this  Dr.  Dernburg  said  that  when  in  November,  1914, 
reports  were  published  describing  "an  astounding  French  inven- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  asphyxiating  enemies  by  nauseating 
gases  contained  in  shells,"  no  exception  was  taken  in  America, 
no  inquiry  was  addressed  to  the  French  correspondents  of  the 
newspapers  to  find  out  if  the  reports  were  true  or  false.  "But 
as  soon  as  the  Germans  used  the  same  kind  of  weapon  in  this 
battle  around  Ypres,"  they  had  been  roundly  abused. 

"This  is  exactly  what  Germany  complains  of;  that  the 
press  of  this  country  very  often  measures  with  two  standards; 
that  what  is  sauce  for  the  goose  is  not  sauce  for  the  gander, 
and  that  if  the  Allies  do  one  thing  it  is  covered  with  a  mantle  of 
charity,  excused  and  smoothed  over,  and  if  Germany  afterwards 
does  the  very  same  thing  she  is  held  up  for  it  by  the  American 
public  as  the  real  infractor  of  established  law  and  decent  cus- 
tom. 

"This  is  why  Germany  protests,  and  why  they  do  not  believe 
in  the  impartiality  of  public  opinion  in  this  country  and  why 
they  do  not  take  kindly  to"  the  United  States  as  a  mediator  in 
the  world  war. 

About  a  week  before  this  letter  of  Dernburg's  appeared  Mr. 
Bryan  replied  to  von  BernstorfFs  complaints.  Though  the  note 
bore  the  signature  of  the  Secretary  of  State  the  language?  the 


AX  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  151 

literary  style  and  rumors  from  Washington  convinced  the  peo- 
ple that  the  author  was  no  other  than  President  Wilson. 

Your  Excellency,  said  the  Secretary  in  substance,  has  re- 
ferred to  the  interference  of  Great  Britain  with  trade  from  the 
United  States.  Your  Excellency's  long  experience  in  interna- 
tional affairs  must  have  made  you  aware  "that  the  relations  of 
two  Governments  with  one  another  cannot  wisely  be  made  a 
subject  of  discussion  with  a  third  Government  which  cannot  be 
fully  informed  as  to  the  facts,  and  which  cannot  be  fully  cogni- 
zant of  the  reasons  for  the  course  pursued."  He  had  hoped  the 
position  of  the  Government  in  respect  to  its  obligations  as  a 
neutral  power  "had  been  made  abundantly  clear/'  but  he  was 
"perfectly  willing  to  state  it  again." 

"This  seems  the  more  necessary  and  desirable,  because,  I 
regret  to  say,  the  language  which  your  Excellency  employs  in 
your  memorandum  is  susceptible  of  being  construed  as  im- 
pugning the  good  faith  of  the  United  States  in  the  perform- 
ance of  its  duties  as  a  neutral.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  no 
such  implication  was  intended,  but  it  is  so  evident  that  your 
Excellency  is  laboring  under  certain  false  impressions  that  I 
cannot  be  too  explicit  in  setting  forth  the  facts  as  they  are 
when  fully  reviewed  and  comprehended." 

In  the  first  place,  at  no  time  and  in  no  manner  had  the 
United  States  yielded  "any  one  of  its  rights  as  a  neutral  to 
any  one  of  the  present  belligerents."  The  right  of  visit  and 
search,  the  right  to  apply  the  rules  of  contraband  of  war,  the 
right  of  blockade  if  actually  maintained  had  been  acknowl- 
edged and  admitted  "as  a  matter  of  course."  They  were  but 
the  well-known  limitations  placed  on  neutral  commerce  on 
the  high  seas.  "But  nothing  beyond  these  has  it  conceded." 

In  the  second  place,  the  Government  had  sought  to  secure 
from  Great  Britain  and  Germany  concessions  with  regard  to 
the  measures  they  had  adopted  for  the  interruption  of  trade  on 
the  high  seas.  It  did  so  as  a  sincere  friend  of  both  parties. 
"The  attempt  was  unsuccessful,  but  I  regret  that  your  Excel- 
lency did  not  deem  it  worthy  of  mention  in  modification  of 
the  impressions  you  expressed." 

In  the  third  place,  it  was  noticed  "with  sincere  regret"  that, 
"in  discussing  the  sale  and  exportation  of  arms  by  citizens  of 


152     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  United  States  to  the  enemies  of  Germany,"  the  German 
Ambassador  seemed  "to  be  under  the  impression  that  it  was 
within  the  choice  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
notwithstanding  its  professed  neutrality,  and  its  diligent  efforts 
to  maintain  it  in  other  particulars,  to  inhibit  this  trade  and 
that  its  failure  to  do  so  manifested  an  unfair  attitude  towards 
Germany."  The  Government  held  that  any  change  in  its  laws 
of  neutrality,  made  during  the  war,  "which  would  affect, 
unequally,  the  relations  of  the  United  States  with  the  nations 
at  war,  would  be  an  unjustifiable  departure  from  the  principles 
of  strict  neutrality"  and  "none  of  the  circumstances  urged  in 
your  Excellency's  memorandum  alters  the  principle  involved." 
Placing  "an  embargo  on  the  trade  in  arms  at  the  present  time 
would  constitute  such  a  change  and  be  a  direct  violation  of 
the  neutrality  of  the  United  States."  It  was  "out  of  the  ques- 
tion for  this  Government  to  consider  such  a  course." 

A  Berlin  newspaper  called  the  answer  a  mockery  of  the 
German  standpoint.  Nobody,  outside  of  the  White  House, 
believed  that  the  delivery  of  arms  was  not  a  violation  of  neu- 
trality, and  that  its  prohibition  would  be  unneutral.  But  Mr. 
Bryan  proclaims  that  the  weapon  trade  with  one  belligerent  is 
real  neutrality.  This  attitude,  said  another  journal,  will  not 
be  forgotten  in  Germany.  The  American  attitude,  said  a 
third,  can  be  explained  only  by  the  profits  of  the  armament 
firms. 

Nevertheless,  the  answer  of  the  United  States  put  an  end, 
so  far  as  Germany  was  concerned,  to  her  protests  against  the 
export  of  arms  and  to  the  activity  of  the  pro-German  propa- 
gandists in  its  behalf. 

But  with  the  retirement  of  Germany  from  the  controversy 
she  assigned  the  duty  of  further  protest  to  Austria,  from 
whom,  on  June  29,  came  a  note  of  remonstrance.  The  far- 
reaching  effects,  it  said,  of  the  traffic  in  munitions  of  war 
between  the  United  States,  Great  Britain  and  her  Allies,  while 
Austria-Hungary  as  well  as  Germany  were  "absolutely  ex- 
cluded from  the  American  market,"  had  "from  the  very  begin- 
ning attracted  the  attention  of  the  (Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment." 

Although  "absolutely  convinced"  of  the  intention  of  the 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  153 

United  States  to  preserve  the  strictest  neutrality,  it  was  a  ques- 
tion whether  the  conditions  developed  during  the  war  did  not 
in  effect  thwart  the  intentions  of  the  Washington  Cabinet,  as 
the  American  Government  was  surely  aware  the  "meaning  and 
essence  of  neutrality  are  in  no  way  exhaustively  dealt  with 
in  the"  provisions  of  the  several  Hague  Conventions.  The 
wording  of  Article  7  of  the  Fifth  and  Thirteenth  Conventions 
might  indeed  afford  "a  formal  pretext  for  the  toleration  of 
traffic  in  munitions  of  war  now  being  carried  on  by  the  United 
States."  But  "to  measure  the  true  spirit  and  import  of  this 
provision"  it  was  only  necessary  to  point  out  that  "the  detailed 
privileges  conceded  to  neutral  states  in  the  sense  of  the  pre- 
amble .  .  .  are  limited  by  the  requirements  of  neutrality 
which  conform  to  the  universally  recognized  principles  of  inter- 
national law." 

By  none  of  "the  criteria"  laid  down  by  writers  on  inter- 
national law  could  "the  exportation  of  war  requisites"  from 
the  United  States  as  it  is  being  carried  on  in  the  present  war  be 
"brought  into  accordance  with  the  demands  of  neutrality." 
That  industry  had  "soared  to  unimaginable  heights."  In 
"order  to  turn  out  the  huge  quantities  of  arms,  ammunition, 
and  other  war  material"  ordered  in  the  past  few  months  by 
Great  Britain  and  her  Allies,  old  plants  had  not  only  been 
enlarged,  but  new  ones  had  been  started,  and  workmen  of  all 
trades  had  flocked  into  this  branch  of  industry  in  such  num- 
bers that  far-reaching  changes  in  the  economic  life  of  the  whole 
country  had  become  necessary.  That  the  American  Govern- 
ment had  the  right  to  prohibit  the  export  of  munition  by 
embargo  could  not  be  questioned.  If  it  would  use  that  power 
it  "could  not  lay  itself  open  to  blame,"  for  while  it  is  true 
"that  a  neutral  stiate  may  not  alter  its  rules  in  force"  for  its 
treatment  of  a  belligerent  while  war  is  being  waged,  yet  it 
appears  from  the  preamble  of  the  Thirteenth  Hague  Conven- 
tion that  this  principle  "suffers  an  exception  in  the  case  'ou 
1'experience  acquise  en  demontrerait  la  necessite  pour  la 
sauvegarde  de  ses  droits,' "  which  being  interpreted  means 
"where  experience  has  shown  the  necessity  thereof  for  the  pro- 
tection of  its  rights." 

To  the  objection  that  while  American  manufacturers  were 


1M     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

as  willing  to  furnish  supplies  to  An  stria -Hungary  as  to  Great 
Britain  and  her  Allies,  but  could  not  do  so  because  "of  the 
war  situation,"  it  might  be  answered  "that  its  Federal  Gov- 
ernment is  undoubtedly  in  a  position  to  improve  the  situation." 
It  might  "confront  the  opponents  of  Austria-Hungary  and  Ger- 
many" with  a  threat  to  prohibit  "the  exportation  of  food- 
stuffs and  raw  materials"  unless  lawful  commerce  with  the 
Central  Powers  was  allowed. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Lansing  replied, 
is  surprised  to  find  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  imply- 
ing that  the  observance  under  present  conditions  of  the  law 
is  not  sufficient,  and  asserting  that  "the  Government  should  go 
beyond  the  long  recognized  rules  governing  such  traffic  by 
neutrals  and  adopt  measures  to  'maintain  an  attitude  of  strict 
parity  with  respect  to  both  belligerent  parties.' ' 

Neither  Germany  nor  Austria-Hungary  had  ever  applied 
the  principle  urged  by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government. 
During  the  Boer  War  between  Great  Britain  and  the  South 
African  Republics  the  coasts  of  neighboring  neutral  colonies 
were  patrolled  by  British  naval  vessels,  supplies  of  arms  and 
ammunition  were  cut  off  from  the  Republics,  and  they  were 
in  a  situation  almost  identical  in  this  respect  with  that  in  which 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  find  themselves  at  present. 
Yet,  despite  the  complete  commercial  isolation  of  one  belliger- 
ent, Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  sold  to  Great  Britain,  the 
other  belligerent,  explosives,  gun-powder,  cartridges,  shot,  and 
weapons.  If  at  that  time  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  had 
refused  to  sell  munitions  to  Great  Britain  because  so  to  do 
would  violate  the  spirit  of  strict  neutrality,  Austria-Hungary 
"might  with  greater  consistency  and  greater  force  urge  its  pres- 
ent contention."  During  the  recent  war  between  Italy  and 
Turkey,  arms  and  ammunitions  were  sold  to  the  Ottoman 
Government  by  Germany.  During  the  Balkan  wars  the 
belligerents  were  supplied  with  munitions  by  both  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary.  These  instances  clearly  show  the  long- 
established  custom  of  the  two  Empires. 

In  view  of  this  record  the  United  States  could  not  believe 
that  Austria-Hungary  would  charge  it  with  a  lack  of  impartial 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  155 

neutrality  because  it  furnished  the  Allies  with  munitions  of 
war  which  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government,  because  of 
present  war  conditions,  was  not  able  to  obtain  in  the  American 
market 

But  there  was  another  reason,  and  "a  very  practical  and 
substantial  reason,  why  the  United  States  has  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Republic  to  the  present  time  advocated  and  prac- 
ticed unrestricted  trade  in  arms  and  military  supplies."  Jt 
had  never  been  our  policy  to  keep  up  in  time  of  peace  large 
armies,  or  great  stores  of  munitions  "sufficient  to  repel  inva- 
sion by  a  well-equipped  and  powerful  enemy."  We  desired 
to  remain  at  peace  and  to  avoid  any  appearance  of  menacing 
such  peace  by  the  threat  of  armies  and  navies.  We  had  always 
relied  on  the  purchase  of  arms  and  munition  from  neutrals, 
and  this  right  which  we  claimed  for  ourselves  we  could  not 
deny  to  others. 

The  assertion  that  the  exportation  of  arms  and  munitions 
was  contrary  to  the  preamble  of  the  Hague  Convention  No.  13, 
Mr.  Lansing  answered  by  pointing  out  that  one  of  the  rules 
"explicitly  declares  that  a  neutral  is  not  bound  to  prohibit 
the  exportation  of  contraband  of  war."  To  the  assertion  that 
a  neutral  state  may  alter  its  rules  "concerning  its  attitude 
towards  belligerents  while  war  is  being  waged"  when  "experi- 
ence has  shown  the  necessity  thereof  for  the  protection  of  its 
rights,"  Mr.  Lansing  replied  that  "the  right  and  duty  to  deter- 
mine when  this  necessity  exists  rests  with  the  neutral  and  not 
with  the  belligerent."  If  a  neutral  "does  not  avail  itself  of 
the  right,  a  belligerent  is  not  privileged  to  complain."  Such  a 
complaint  "would  invite  just  rebuke."  To  the  assertion  that 
the  best  text  writers  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the 
exportation  of  contraband  was  unneutral,  the  Secretary 
answered  that  "a  careful  examination  of  the  principal  authori- 
ties on  international  law"  showed  that  less  than  one-fifth  of 
them  "advocated  unreservedly  the  prohibition  of  the  export 
of  contraband."  Even  such  a  German  authority  as  Paul 
Einicke  had  declared  "such  prohibitions  may  be  considered 
as  violations  of  neutrality,  or  at  least  as  unfriendly  acts,  if 
they  are  enacted  during  a  war  with  the  purpose  to  close  unex- 


156     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

pectedly  the  sources  of  supply  to  a  party  which  heretofore 
has  relied  on  them."  ' 

The  effect  on  a  disordered  mind  of  the  agitation  for  an 
embargo  on  the  exportation  of  munitions  was  responsible  for 
an  attack  on  the  life  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan,  of  New  York.  A 
half-crazy  fanatic  who  called  himself  Frank  Holt  went,  on 
July  3,  to  the  summer  home  of  Mr.  Morgan,  forced  the  butler, 
by  showing  two  revolvers,  to  admit  him  to  the  house,  entered 
the  parlor,  and  finding  two  children  there,  compelled  them  to 
follow  him  upstairs.  There  he  was  met  by  Mr.  Morgan,  who 
attempted  to  disarm  him,  but  in  the  scuffle  Mr.  Morgan  was 
shot  twice.  The  purpose  of  the  visit  was  stated  by  Holt  after 
his  arrest. 

I  went  to  the  Morgan  house  in  order  to  ask  him  to  use  his  great 
influence  to  stop  the  shipment  of  explosives.  That  is  why  I  took  some 
explosives  with  me,  in  order  to  be  able  to  demonstrate  to  him  what 
the  use  of  a  machine  of  murder  means,  but  of  course  I  did  not  mean 
to  hurt  any  one. 

I  wanted  him  to  be  in  the  same  danger  (him  and^his  family)  that 
we  are  imposing  on  Europe.  I  wanted  to  send  him  out  to  the  manu- 
facturers and  men  of  influence  to  plead  for  American  neutrality,  while 
I  held  bis  wife  and  dear  children  as  hostages  in  some  upper  room  of 
his  bouse. 

Holt,  an  accomplished  linguist,  was  instructor  in  German 
at  Cornell  University  and  turned  out  to  be  Erich  Muenter,  one 
time  instructor  in  Harvard  University,  who  disappeared  after 
indictment  for  the  murder  of  his  wife  by  poison  in  1906.  He 
committed  suicide  a  few  days  after  his  arrest. 

A  letter  forwarded  by  his  second  wife  to  the  Department 
of  State  contained  the  statement  that  "a  steamer  leaving  New 
York  for  Liverpool,  July  3,  should  sink,  God  willing,  on  the 
seventh.  I  think  it  is  the  Philadelphia  or  Saxony  (Saxonia).1' 
Warnings  by  wireless  were  at  once  sent  off  to  both  steamers, 
and  by  a  strange  coincidence  on  that  day,  July  7,  a  fire  caused 
by  an  explosion  broke  out  in  the  hold  of  the  Minnehaha,  which 
sailed  on  the  fourth  of  July,  and  caused  her  to  race  back  to 
Halifax.  That  Holt  placed  the  bomb  is  not  likely.  Both  be- 
fore and  after  his  death  bombs  had  been  discovered  on  several 


AN  EMBARGO  DEMANDED  157 

steamships  and  had  been  the  cause  of  fires  while  in  port  In 
March  the  Touraine  had  so  suffered.  In  May  two  vessels  from 
Havre  and  Falmouth  were  found  to  have  unexploded  bombs  in 
their  holds,  placed  there  before  sailing.  In  September  the 
Sant'Anne  and  in  November  the  Rochambeau  were  set  on  fire 
by  this  means. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TREACHEROUS    ACTS    OF    GERMAN    OFFICIALS 

THE  war  was  scarcely  three  weeks  old  when  Hans  Adam 
von  Wedell,  with  the  knowledge  and  approval  of  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff,  made  a  flying  visit  to  Berlin.  He  reached  there 
in  September,  a  bearer  of  dispatches  to  the  Foreign  Office,  and 
in  November  was  again  in  New  York,  eager  to  put  into  execu- 
tion a  great  plan  to  help  the  Fatherland.  While  in  Berlin 
he  ascertained  that  the  German  Government  cared  nothing 
for  the  return  of  the  reservists  in  our  country,  but  would  gladly 
have  the  services  of  the  officers  scattered  over  the  United  States, 
Mexico  and  South  America.  The  purpose  of  von  Wedell  was 
to  send  them  back  by  means  of  passports  bought  from  Span- 
iards, Swiss,  Swedes,  natives  of  any  neutral  country  who  for 
twenty-five  dollars  would  make  application  and  deliver  the 
papers.  All  went  well  until  von  Wedell  sought  for  an  Ameri- 
can to  aid  him  in  the  work  and  so  avoid  suspicion.  A  Tam- 
many lawyer  found  the  man  who  agreed  to  deliver  passports 
for  thirty  dollars  each,  and  then  promptly  informed  the  Sur- 
veyor of  the  Port,  who  notified  the  Treasury  Department, 
which  informed  the  Department  of  State,  which  referred  the 
matter  to  the  Department  of  Justice.  This  done,  the  man 
returned  to  von  Wedell,  declared  he  could  not  go  on,  and  prom- 
ised to  find  a  substitute. 

Before  the  substitute  came  von  Wedell  heard  from  Captain 
von  Papen  that  Dr.  Stark,  a  bearer  of  one  of  the  false  pass- 
ports, had  been  stopped  by  the  British  at  Gibraltar ;  was  warned 
by  others  that  he  was  watched,  and  fled  to  Nyack  on  the  Hud- 
son. Ere  he  went  he  picked  out  Carl  Ruroede,  a  lawyer,  to 
carry  on  the  work,  and  it  was  hefore  Ruroede  that  the  substi- 
tute, an  agent  of  the  Bureau  of  Investigation,  appeared  in  the 
guise  of  a  Bowery  tough  and  gave  the  name  of  Aucher.  He 

158 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS      159 

agreed  to  obtain  the  passports  needed,  and  in  time  brought  a 
genuine  one  made  out  in  the  name  and  bearing  the  photograph, 
duly  stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  United  States,  of  another 
agent  of  the  Bureau  of  (Investigation  and  especially  prepared 
at  the  request  of  the  Department  of  Justice. 

Four  photographs  of  German  officers  were  then  given 
Aucher  by  Ruroede,  who  wished  to  have  passports  at  once 
that  these  men  might  sail  on  January  2,  1915,  in  the  Nor- 
wegian Line  Steamship  Bergensfjord.  Four  were  provided. 
But  on  January  2,  1915,  Ruroede  was  put  under  arrest,  and 
as  the  Bergensfjord  was  going  down  the  bay  on  her  way  to  sea 
she  was  brought  to  by  a  revenue  cutter,  all  her  passengers  were 
lined  up,  and  four  Germans,  reserve  officers,  were  taken  from 
her  deck.  Their  names  were  Sachse,  Myer,  Wegener  and 
Miiller;  but  their  passports  bore  the  names  of  Wright,  Hansen, 
Martin  and  Wilson,  and  had  all  been  furnished  by  Aucher. 

In  the  course  of  his  many  visits  to  the  office  of  Ruroede  the 
secret  agent,  Aucher,  found  out  that  Captain  von  Papen  sup- 
plied the  money  for  the  passports  and  for  the  needs  of  the 
returning  officers,  and  that  there  was  a  fund  for  this  purpose. 
Among  the  papers  seized  in  the  office  ,of  Ruroede  were  visiting 
cards  of  "Captain  Franz  von  Papen,  Military  Attache  to  the 
German  Embassy,  Washington,  D.  C.,"  and  of  "Arthur  Mudra, 
LL.D.,  Imperial  German  Consul,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,"  used  to 
introduce  the  reservists;  lists  sent  by  von  Papen  of  officers 
to  be  supplied  with  passports,  and  instructions  to  German 
officers  telling  them  how  to  behave  when  traveling  on  false 
passports. 

1.  On  no  condition  and  in  no  way  whatever  must  anything  be  let 
out  in  regard  to  the  conditions  under  which  the  voyage  was  effected. 

2.  During  the  passage  one  should  keep  aloof  from  other  passen- 
gers and  make  no  acquaintances  on  board. 

3.  Deportment  on  board,  during  the  trip,  should,  as  far  as  it  is 
at  all  possible,  be  in  harmony  with  the  particular  characteristics 
described  in  the  passport. 

4.  Should  any  questions  be  asked,  answer  with  reserve,  and  more- 
over, it  is  fitting  to  make  use,  as  far  as  practicable,  of  the  need  created 
Uy  sea-sickness  for  remaining  in  seclusion. 

5.  Finally,  everything  will  depend  on  the  maintenance,  in  every 
•respect,  of  absolute  reticence.    All  incitements  to  political  or  similar 


160     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

discussions  of  the  war  or  of  soldiers  and  their  obligations  must  be 
absolutely  avoided. 

6.  It  should  by  no  means  be  understood  that  on  landing  one 
should  tell  everybody  everything  that  happened ;  on  the  contrary,  then 
too  is  silence  absolutely  necessary,  lest  through  too  much  talking  it 
become  impossible  for  others  to  likewise  get  to  the  other  side. 

7.  Briefly,  the  watchword,  always  and  at  all  times,  is  "Silence." 

March  8,  Ruroede  and  the  four  reservists  were  found  guilty 
and  sentenced.  At  that  time  the  espionage  act  had  not  been 
passed  by  Congress.  Their  sentences  therefore  were  light. 
Ruroede  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  at  Atlanta  for  three  years, 
and  each  of  the  reservists  was  fined  two  hundred  dollars.  On 
the  Bergensfjord  when  they  were  arrested  was  von  Wedell, 
but  his  presence  there  was  not  suspected  until  Ruroede  in  a 
fit  of  anger  made  known  the  fact.  Then  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  communicated  with,  and  on  January  11  the  Ber- 
gensfjord was  stopped  by  a  British  cruiser  and  Rosato  Sprio, 
or  Hans  Adam  von  Wedell,  was  taken  out  of  her.  The  cruiser 
was  torpedoed  on  her  way  to  port  and  went  to  the  bottom  with 
von  Wedell  on  board.1 

Scarcely  had  Ruroede  been  placed  under  arrest  and  his 
office  put  in  charge  of  one  of  the  agents  of  the  Bureau  of 
Investigation  when  "Wolfram  von  Knorr,  Captain  of  Cruiser, 
Naval  Attache,  Imperial  German  Embassy,  Tokyo,"  entered. 
He  insisted  on  seeing  Ruroede,  was  taken  by  the  agent  to  an 
office  of  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  under  the  pretense  that 
Ruroede  was  there,  and  was  met  by  another  agent,  who  pre- 
tended to  be  the  man  he  wished  to  see.  From  the  Captain 
it  was  then  learned  that  von  Papen  had  sent  him,  and  had 
given  him  a  memorandum  which  he  presented.  On  it,  among 
others,  was  the  name  of  Werner  Horn. 

A  month  later,  February  3,  1915,  the  whole  country  knew 
that  Werner  Horn  had  attempted  to  blow  up  the  international 
bridge  at  Vanceboro,  Maine. 

According  to  his  confession,  he  had  come,  at  the  opening 
of  the  war,  to  New  York  in  hope  of  returning  to  Germany, 
for  he  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  German  army,  subject 

1  For  the  facts  concerning  von  Wedell  and  Ruroede  I  am  indebted  to 
"Fighting  Germany's  Spies,"  by  French  Strother,  in  The  World's  Work  for 
March,  1918. 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       161 

to  call  for  military  duty;  had  failed  in  the  attempt  to  return 
and  while  in  New  York  had  made  an  arrangement  with  certain 
persons  to  destroy  the  bridge.  December  29,  1914,  accordingly, 
he  boarded  the  midnight  train  for  Boston  with  a  suitcase  full 
of  dynamite,  which  he  placed  under  a  lower  berth  in  the  sleep- 
ing car.  Reaching  Vanceboro  in  safety,  he  was  seen  to  hide  the 
suitcase  under  a  woodpile  near  a  siding,  visit  the  bridge, 
recover  his  suitcase  and  go  on  to  the  Exchange  Hotel.  There 
he  remained  until  the  night  of  December  31,  when  he  gave  up 
his  room  and  set  forth  on  his  errand.  The  thermometer  was 
at  thirty  degrees  below  zero;  the  wind  blew  eighty  miles  an 
hour;  but  he  crossed  the  bridge,  narrowly  escaping  destruc- 
tion by  two  passing  trains,  and  placed  the  dynamite  against  a 
girder  near  the  Canadian  shore.  Lest  another  train  should 
come  along  before  the  fifty  minute  fuse  he  had  was  consumed, 
he  cut  off  a  part,  leaving  enough  to  burn  for  a  few  minutes,  lit 
it  with  his  cigar  and  hurried  back  to  the  hotel  with  ears,  nose, 
hands  and  feet  frozen. 

The  explosion  of  the  dynamite  wrecked  the  bridge  suffi- 
ciently to  make  it  unsafe  and  broke  the  glass  in  half  the  win- 
dows in  Vanceboro.  Wakened  by  the  noise  of  the  explosion, 
the  proprietor  of  the  hotel  leaped  from  his  bed  and,  thinking 
the  boiler  had  burst,  was  hurrying  to  the  cellar  when  he  beheld 
Horn  standing  in  the  bathroom.  "I  freeze  my  hands,"  he  said, 
and  the  proprietor,  opening  the  window,  gave  him  snow  to  rub 
on  them.  The  proprietor  now  went  out  to  see  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  on  his  return  Horn  asked  for  a  room,  went  to  bed 
and  slept  until  in  the  course  of  the  morning  he  was  wakened 
and  put  under  arrest.  He  was  charged  with  malicious  mis- 
chief for  breaking  the  glass  in  the  windows  of  one  of  the 
houses,  plead  guilty  and  was  sent  to  the  county  jail  at  Machias 
for  thirty  days.  Meantime  the  authorities  of  the  Department 
of  Justice  appeared  and  obtained  a  full  confession.  That 
von  Papen  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  scheme  was  perfectly  clear, 
for  Horn  admitted  that  he  met  the  Captain  at  the  German  Club 
in  New  York,  but  nothing  could  induce  him  to  say  that 
von  Papen  sent  him  to  blow  up  the  bridge.  Early  in  March, 
Horn  was  indicted  before  a  United  States  Commissioner  on  a 


162     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

charge  of  violating  the  law  regulating  the  transportation  of 
explosives.2 

Another  case  of  the  attempted  use  of  a  fraudulent  American 
passport  was  brought  to  light  on  February  24,  by  the  arrest 
in  New  York  of  Richard  Peter  Stegler,  said  to  be  a  reservist 
in  the  German  navy.  Papers  found  in  his  possession  bore 
the  signature  of  Captain  Boy-Ed.  In  his  statement  Stegler 
said  that  the  Captain  was  the  head  of  a  German  secret  organi- 
zation for  sending  reservists  into  England  as  spies  by  supply- 
ing them  with  fraudulent  American  passports,  and  that  the 
Captain  had  planned  to  send  him  to  ascertain  the  strength 
of  the  British  fleet  in  St.  George's  Channel;  find  out  all  he 
could  concerning  the  fitting  out  at  Belfast  of  British  merchant- 
men to  be  sent,  disguised  as  German  vessels,  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Elbe  and  sunk  in  order  that  Cuxhaven  and  Bremerhaven 
might  be  effectively  blockaded. 

All  this  Captain  Boy-Ed  denied. 

March  1,  at  New  York,  the  Hamburg-American  Line  and 
five  men  were  indicted  by  a  Federal  Grand  Jury,  charged 
with  having  conspired  to  defraud  the  United  States  by  false 
statements,  false  clearances  of  vessels  from  our  ports,  and  false 
manifests  of  cargoes  made  in  order  that  the  vessels  might  go, 
not  to  the  places  for  which  they  were  cleared,  but  to  deliver 
coal  and  supplies  to  German  warships  at  sea.  One  of  the  men 
was  Carl  Biinz,  managing  director  of  the  New  York  office; 
another  of  the  five  was  the  superintendent  of  the  line;  a  third 
had  been  supercargo  of  the  Lorenzo,  which  was  surprised  and 
captured  by  the  British  while  delivering  coal  to  the  German 
raider  Karlsruhe;  the  fourth  had  been  supercargo  of  the  steam- 
ship Berwind  which  cleared  for  Buenos  Aires  and  arrived  two 
weeks  late;  the  fifth  was  Adolph  Hachmeister.  By  the  first 
indictment  they  were  charged  with  conspiracy  "to  defraud  the 
United  States  in  and  by  causing  collectors  of  customs,  by  means 
of  false  statements,  to  make  record  and  transmit  untrue  and 
inaccurate  records."  The  second  charged  them  with  con- 
spiracy "to  defraud  the  United  States  in  and  by  obtaining 
clearance  papers  by  means  of  false  manifests." 

'The  story  of  Werner  Horn  is  told  in  detail,  with  photogravures   of 
dociinicnts,  in  The  World's  Work,  April,  1918. 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       1(J3 

Jn  other  words,  from  the  day  Germany  declared  war  on 
Russia  the  office  of  the  Hamburg-American  Line  had  been  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  an  American  branch  of  the  German 
Admiralty,  had  turned  New  York  into  a  German  naval  base, 
and  had  from  that  port  and  others  in  our  country  dispatched 
no  less  than  twelve  vessels  loaded  with  supplies  for  German 
ships  of  war  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  and  had  cleared 
these  vessels  by  means  of  false  manifests. 

Germany  and  Great  Britain  had  each  complained  of  such 
aid  to  its  enemy.  Late  in  October,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
Hamburg-American  Line  had  been  sending  coal  and  supplies 
to  German  cruisers,  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  wrote  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  that  on  the  night  of  September  31,  1914,  the  tug 
F.  B.  Dalzell  left  New  York  "to  carry  provisions  to  the  British 
cruiser  Essex/'  lying  some  five  miles  off  Gedney  Channel,  that 
she  had  delivered  "about  forty  ton.8  of  fresh  meats  wrapped 
in  cloth,"  and  that  in  doing  so  passed  "under  the  searchlight  of 
the  American  warship  Florida  that  was  lying  in  front  of  the 
channel."  Acting  Secretary  of  State  Lansing  replied  that 
the  matter  had  been  "thoroughly  investigated,"  but  the  Gov- 
ernment had  "not  been  able  to  find  sufficient  evidence"  to 
prove  that  the  Dalzell  had  furnished  supplies  to  British 
warships. 

The  British  Ambassador  now  complained,  acting  under 
instructions  from  his  Government,  that  the  Italian  steamship 
Amista,  chartered  by  the  Berwind- White  Coal  Mining  Com- 
pany, had  left  Newport  News  loaded  with  coal,  under  a  strong 
suspicion  that  it  was  for  German  cruisers.  She  had  cleared 
on  October  17  for  Montevideo,  by  way  of  Barbadoes,  and  should 
have  arrived  there  "at  the  slowest  speed"  on  the  twenty-fourth, 
but  had  not.  "I  have  to  add,"  he  said,  "that  the  systematic  way 
in  which  neutral  ships  have  left  American  ports  in  order  to 
supply  German  cruisers,  and  have  been  allowed  to  operate 
freely  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  in  spite  of  the  warn- 
ings which  have  been  given,  is  a  matter  which  causes  grave 
anxiety  to  His  Majesty's  Government,"  and  to  request  that 
measures  "be  taken  to  prevent  the  use  of  the  ports  of  the 
United  States  for  this  unneutral  purpose." 

Mr.  Lansing  answered  that  every  suspicious  case  of  a  vessel 


164.     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

leaving  American  ports  to  supply  German  cruisers,  when  there 
was  any  basis  of  fact  to  support  such  suspicion,  had  been 
investigated  in  order  to  determine  whether  the  transaction  was 
bona  fide  or  such  as  must  be  interfered  with  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States.  Further  than  this, 
the  Government  "did  not  understand  that  its  duty"  required  it 
to  go.  "Otherwise  the  war  would  impose  upon  the  United 
States  the  burden  of  enforcing  restrictions  which  are  not  pre- 
scribed by  the  rules  of  international  law." 

Following  out  this  course  of  action,  several  vessels  were 
detained  and  two  Norwegian  steamships  were  forced  to  unload 
their  coal.  Because  of  this  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff,  on  De- 
cember 15,  protested.  The  position  taken  by  the  United  States 
that  the  delivery  of  coal  and  supplies  to  "warships  of  the 
belligerent  states"  was  a  violation  of  neutrality  was,  he  said, 
"in  the  opinion  of  the  Imperial  German  Government,  untenable 
in  international  law."  This  opinion  was  fully  stated  in  a 
memorandum  which,  under  instructions,  he  forwarded. 

The  neutrality  declaration  of  the  United  States,  von  Berns- 
torff said,  contained  the  words :  "All  persons  may  lawfully  and 
without  restriction  by  reason  of  the  aforesaid  state  of  war, 
manufacture  and  sell  within  the  United  States  arms  and  muni- 
tions of  war  and  other  articles  ordinarily  known  as  contraband 
of  war."  In  spite  of  it,  however,  various  American  port 
authorities  had  denied  clearances  to  merchant  vessels  "which 
would  carry  needed  supplies  or  fuel  to  German  warships  either 
on  the  high  seas  or  in  other  neutral  ports."  According  to  inter- 
national law  a  neutral  need  not  stop  supplies  of  this  sort,  nor 
could  it,  "after  allowing  the  adversary  to  be  furnished  with 
contraband,  either  detain  or  in  any  way  disable  a  merchant  ship 
carrying  such  a  cargo."  Only  when  the  ports  were  turned 
"into  bases  of  German  military  operations  would  the  unilateral 
stoppage  of  the  trade  of  those  vessels  become  a  duty."  Such 
would  be  the  case  if  Germany  "kept  coal  deposits  in  the  ports, 
or  if  the  vessels  called  at  the  port  in  regular  voyages  on  the 
way  to  German  naval  forces."  But  the  occasional  sailing  of 
a  vessel  with  coal  or  supplies  for  German  warships  "does  not 
turn  a  neutral  port  into  a  German  point  of  support  contrary 
to  neutrality." 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       165 

"Our  enemies  draw  from  the  United  States  contraband  of 
war,  especially  arms  worth  several  billion  of  marks.  This  in 
itself  they  are  authorized  to  do.  But  if  the  United  States  will 
prevent  our  warships  occasionally  drawing  supplies  from  its 
ports,  a  great  injustice  grows  out  of  the  authorization,  for  it 
would  amount  to  an  unequal  treatment  of  the  belligerents  and 
constitute  a  breach  of  the  generally  accepted  rules  of  neutrality 
to  Germany's  detriment." 

November  22,  the  case  of  the  Hamburg-American  Line  and 
the  four  officials  indicted  in  March  came  up  for  trial  in  the 
United  States  District  Court  at  New  York. 

We  shall  show,  said  the  prosecuting  -attorney,  that  this  con- 
spiracy extended  from  New  York  and  Philadelphia  to  San 
Francisco  and  New  Orleans;  that  a  man  named  Kulenkampff 
was  employed  by  Dr.  Biinz  to  clear  two  vessels  in  a  hurry 
from  Philadelphia  immediately  after  the  opening  of  the  war; 
that  one  of  these  vessels,  the  Berwind,  was  loaded  with  coal; 
that  soon  after  her  departure  Kulenkampff  received  from  some- 
where in  Germany  $750,000;  that  he  deposited  the  money  in 
two  New  York  banks,  and  was  notified  by  Captain  Boy-Ed 
that  it  was  to  be  expended  as  the  Captain  directed;  that  some 
$500,000  of  the  fund  was  sent  to  San  Francisco  and  was  used 
to  charter  and  supply  three  vessels  with  coal  and  provisions, 
and  that  these  vessels  sailed  out  and  met  the  German  cruiser 
Leipzig  and  perhaps  the  Dresden. 

Sixteen  or  seventeen  ships  the  Government  contended  were 
used  by  the  defendants  to  carry  coal,  water,  wine,  sauerkraut 
and  supplies  to  the  Leipzig,  Dresden,  Cape  Trafalgar,  Eber, 
Santa  Lucia,  Eleanor  Woerner  and  other  men-of-war;  each 
supply  ship  carried  a  supercargo  bearing  sealed  instructions 
to  be  opened  at  sea. 

Counsel  for  the  defendants  admitted  the  charges  of  the 
Government  as  to  twelve  vessels,  admitted  that  Dr.  Biinz  had 
sent  them  out  to  meet  German  cruisers  as  charged,  admitted 
that  not  merely  $750,000  but  nearly  $2,000,000  had  been  ex- 
pended for  these  purposes;  but  denied  that  the  defendants  had 
been  guilty  of  any  offense  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
denied  any  intent  to  defraud  or  deceive. 

The  offer  of  concession  was  rejected  and  in  the  course  of 


166     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

trial  it  came  out  that  in  the  autumn  of  1913  Dr.  Biinz  was 
notified  by  the  head  office  at  Hamburg  that  the  Company  had 
signed  an  agreement  with  the  German  Government  to  become 
operative  in  case  of  war,  and  that  it  might  be  seen  at  the  office 
of  the  consul  general  at  New  York.  On  reading  the  agree- 
ment, Dr.  Biinz  testified,  he  found  that  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line  had  agreed  in  the  event  of  a  war  to  send  coal 
and  supplies  to  German  warships  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  So 
the  matter  rested  until  July  31,  1914,  when  the  Hamburg 
office  asked,  by  cablegram,  "Are  you  ready  to  carry  out  our 
agreement  with  German  Government?" 

In  carrying  out  the  agreement  it  was  admitted  that  twelve 
vessels  had  been  used,  at  a  cost,  for  vessels  and  supplies,  of 
$1,419,394 ;  but  only  one,  the  Berwind,  accomplished  her  mis- 
sion. The  others  either  returned  to  port  to  escape  capture  or 
never  left  port  because  they  were  held  under  suspicion,  or  failed 
in  their  mission  because  the  war  vessels  they  were  to  serve 
had  been  sunk  by  the  British. 

All  these  relief  ships  had  been  cleared  for  Buenos  Aires, 
La  Guayra,  Monrovia  or  Cadiz,  and  their  clearance  papers  had 
been  obtained  by  means  of  false  manifests. 

December  2,  the  jury  found  Dr.  Karl  Biinz,  George  Koel- 
ter,  Adolph  Hachmeister,  and  Joseph  Poeppinghaus  guilty  on 
both  charges.  They  had  conspired  to  obtain  clearance  from 
collectors  of  customs  throughout  the  United  States  by  means 
of  false  shipper's  manifests  and  false  captain's  manifest.  They 
had  caused  collectors  of  the  ports  throughout  the  United  States 
to  make  false  statistics  and  to  transmit  such  false  statistics  to 
the  Department  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Relations,  thus  falsi- 
fying official  records  of  the  United  States. 

December  4,  sentence  was  imposed.  In  sending  coal,  provi- 
sions and  supplies  to  German  warships  on  the  high  seas,  at  a 
time  when  the  United  States  and  Germany  were  not  at  war 
with  each  other,  the  defendants  had  done  no  wrong,  the  court 
held.  Neither  the  law  of  Nations,  nor  any  act  of  Congress, 
forbade  such  an  undertaking.  But  they  had  defrauded  the 
United  States  by  obtaining  from  its  officers  clearances  for 
their  vessels  to  which  they  were  not  entitled.  For  this  the 
Court  sentenced  Biinz,  Hachmeister  and  Koelter  each  to 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       167 

eighteen  months  imprisonment  in  the  Federal  prison  at  Atlanta, 
and  Poeppinghaus  to  a  year  and  a  day  in  the  same  institution, 
and  fined  the  Hamburg- American  Line  one  dollar.  An  appeal 
was  taken  to  the  tTnited  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  which 
in  January,  1917,  sustained  the  action  of  the  lower  court. 

Early  in  June,  Paul  Konig,  head  of  the  secret  service  of 
the  Hamburg-American  Line,  was  brought  before  a  Federal 
Grand  Jury  in  Xew  York,  that  it  might  be  determined  whether 
or  not  the  four  affidavits  presented  to  the  Department  of  State 
by  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff,  declaring  that  the  Lusitania  was 
armed,  were  true.  One  of  them  was  sworn  to  by  Gustav  Stahl, 
who  disappeared  as  soon  as  it  was  made  public.  He  was  now 
found  and  arrested  in  Albany,  brought  to  New  York,  was  placed 
on  the  witness  stand  and  swore  that  his  affidavit  was  true. 

"On  the  day  prior  to  the  sailing  of  the  Lusitania,  I  was 
asked  by  my  friend,  A.  Leitch  (Leach),  who  was  employed  as 
first  cabin  steward,  to  help  him  bring  his  trunk  aboard.  In 
the  course  of  the  evening  we  went  aboard  without  being  hin- 
dered by  the  quartermaster  on  guard.  After  having  remained 
for  some  time  in  the  'gloria'  (stewards'  quarters)  we  went  to 
the  main  stern  deck.  About  fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  from 
the  entrance  to  the  gloria,  on  port  and  starboard  respectively, 
J  saw  two  guns  of  twelve  and  fifteen  centimeters.  They  were 
covered  with  leather,  but  the  barrels  were  distinctly  to  be  seen. 
To  satisfy  my  curiosity  I  unfastened  the  buckles  to  ascertain 
the  caliber  of  the  guns.  I  could  also  ascertain  that  the  guns 
were  mounted  on  deck  on  wooden  blocks.  .  .  . 

"On  the  foredeck  there  were  also  two  guns  of  the  same 
caliber  anil  covered  in  the  same  manner." 

As  he  left  the  stand  he  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  per- 
jury, was  indicted  a  few  days  later  and  at  his  trial  in  Septem- 
ber confessed  he  was  guilty.  All  four  affidavits  were  false  and 
had  been  obtained  by  Kb'nig. 

The  Government  had  recently  been  furnished  by  the  Provi- 
dence Journal  with  evidence  which  led  to  the  arrest  of  no  less 
a  personage  than  Victoriana  Huerta,  one  time  Provisional 
President  of  Mexico.  When  driven  from  Mexico,  in  1914, 
Huerta  found  a  refuge  in  Spain,  but  came  to  the  United  States 
in  April  and  went  through  the  form  of  making  his  home  on 


168     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Long  Island.  In  June,  under  the  pretense  of  visiting  the  Pan- 
ama Exposition,  he  started,  apparently  for  San  Francisco,  but 
turned  towards  Mexico.  As  he  left  the  train  at  Newman,  New 
Mexico,  not  far  from  El  Paso,  where  an  automobile  was  wait- 
ing to  take  him  across  the  border,  he  and  his  companion, 
General  Pascual  Orozco,  were  arrested  and  carried  to  Eort 
Bliss.  He  was  charged  with  conspiracy  to  incite  a  revolution 
against  a  friendly  country,  Mexico,  and  released  on  bail. 
Orozco  escaped  on  July  3,  and  Huerta  and  five  others  were 
arrested  on  new  charges  of  violating  the  neutrality  of  the 
United  States.  The  death  of  Huerta  early  in  July  ended  the 
matter  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  Aided  by  Germany,  he 
was  really  on  his  way  to  stir  up  another  revolution  and  bring 
on  war  with  the  United  States  and  so  prevent  the  exportation 
of  munitions.  In  proof  of  this  the  Providence  Journal,  in 
August,  published  a  mass  of  evidence  gathered  by  its  secret 
agents. 

The  arrest  of  Huerta  at  El  Paso,  it  said,  closed  the  first 
chapter  of  a  plot  to  involve  the  United  States  and  Mexico  in 
war  and  so  stop  the  exportation  of  arms  to  the  Allies.  The 
German  Foreign  Office  was  not  only  aware  of  the  plot  from 
the  day  it  was  put  in  operation  at  Barcelona,  Spain,  but  orig- 
inated and  directed  it.  "It  was  when  Captain  Boy-Ed,  acting 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  Count  von  Bernstorff,  tried  to  hire  some 
American  citizens  to  secure  Huerta's  safe  conduct  into  Mexico 
and  to  undertake  the  work  of  transporting  German  reservists 
a.cross  the  border  that  the  exposure  came." 

"The  moment  this  offer 'was  made,  the  Providence  Journal 
was  notified  of  it,  and,  acting  under  the  advice  of  this  news- 
paper, the  men  to  whom  this  infamous  proposal  came  went  to 
Washington  and  laid  the  entire  matter  before  President 
Wilson." 

Huerta  and  his  fellow  plotters  were  thereupon  shadowed, 
and  when  he  left  New  York  under  pretense  of  going  to  the 
Panama  Exposition  at  San  Erancisco,  the  Department  of 
Justice  was  warned.  "Had  Huerta  proceeded  to  California  he 
would  not  have  been  molested  at  that  time.  The  moment  he 
turned  south  and  headed  for  El  Paso  it  was  decided  to  arrest 
him  on  his  arrival  in  that  city." 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       169 

The  German  Embassy,  when  it  became  aware  that  evi- 
dence of  the  plot  was  in  possession  of  the  authorities  in 
Washington,  "became  panic-stricken,"  and  Captain  Boy-Ed 
spent  two  weeks  in  New  York  "doing  his  best  to  break  clown 
any  possible  evidence  that  the  United  States  secret  service  men 
might  find  against  him." 

The  purpose  of  the  plot  was  "to  divert  the  public  mind  in 
the  United  States  from  the  crime  of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusl- 
tania."  "To  bring  about  a  condition  that  would  compel  the 
Government,  in  order  to  carry  through  a  successful  campaign 
in  Mexico,  to  insist  that  manufacturers  of  arms  and  munitions 
should  cease  supplying  foreign  governments  until  home  de- 
mands were  filled."  To  force  the  lease  or  purchase  of  the 
Hamburg-American  and  North  German  Lloyd  ships  in  New 
York  harbor  for  transport  service.  To  cut  off  from  Great 
Britain  and  France  their  supply  of  oil  from  Mexico.  To  force 
the  President  to  lay  an  embargo  on  arms  going  to  Mexico,  and 
"use  this  declaration  in  an  attempt  to  bring  before  the  Ameri- 
can people  the  apparent  difference  in  the  Washington  policy  as 
between  Mexico  and  the  Allies  in  this  respect." 

Large  sums  of  money,  the  Journal  said,  had  been  paid 
Huerta  since  his  arrival  in  this  country;  prominent  Germans 
with  property  in  Mexico  had  "known  of  the  plot  from  the 
beginning" ;  the  German  Embassy  had  been  "repeatedly  in  com- 
munication with  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin  with  regard  to 
this  matter,"  and  the  Journal  was  "in  possession  of  wireless 
messages  which  prove  the  interest  and  activity  of  the  German 
Embassy  in  Mexican  affairs." 

Huerta  was  arrested  on  June  28;  on  July  8  the  wireless 
station  at  Sayville,  Long  Island,  owned  apparently  by  the 
Atlantic  Communication  Company,  but  really  by  the  great 
Telefunken  Company  of  Berlin,  was  taken  over  by  the  Federal 
Government. 

By  the  press  the  charges  against  the  German  Embassy  were 
thought  very  serious,  but  the  Providence  Journal  is  a  news- 
paper of  standing,  it  was  said,  and  presumably  has  adequate 
proof,  and  the  men  involved  are  suspicious  characters.  Again 
and  again  they  have  been  concerned  in  acts  for  which  they 
ought  to  be  brought  to  book.  Many  a  minister  has  been  handed 


170     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

his  passports  for  less  weighty  offenses.  The  utter  unscrupu- 
lousness  of  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  does  not  need  to  be  dem- 
onstrated. He  has  often  used  his  office  to^embarrass  the  Gov- 
ernment. That  he  should  find  in  Huerta  a  useful  tool  is  not 
surprising.  The  man  the  Government  had  been  instrumental 
in  driving  out  of  Mexico  cherished  vindictive  feelings.  Why, 
then,  should  he  take  up  residence  in  the  country  whose  Gov- 
ernment had  caused  his  fall  ?  Because  if  he  went  back  to 
Mexico  as  a  German  agent  he  could  do  'much  mischief.  He 
might  bring  on  war.  In  that  event  the  exportation  of  arms 
to  the  Allies  would  be  stopped;  the  export  of  oil  from  Mexico 
might  be  stopped,  and  if  the  United  States  sent  troops  to  Mex- 
ico it  would  be  hampered  in  enforcing  its  demands  on  Ger-« 
many.  The  whole  intrigue  is  only  too  characteristic  of  the 
pro-German  campaign.  The  denial  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
of  any  knowledge  does  not  meet  the  issue.  The  Journal  says 
it  laid  the  proof  before  the  President.  If  so,  why  did  he  not 
lay  it  before  the  public  ? 

Count  von  Bernstorff  now  announced  that,  because  of  the 
report  that  he  and  others  had  planned  to  send  Huerta  to  Mex- 
ico to  create  conditions  that  would  draw  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  into  war,  he  had  made  to  the  Secretary  of  State  a 
formal  complaint  in  behalf  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment. 

Meantime,  on  July  31,  Dr.  Albert,  Financial  Adviser  of 
the  German  Embassy,  while  traveling  on  the  Elevated  Rail- 
way in  New  York,  lost  a  portfolio  containing  documents  of 
various  sorts.  It  was  stolen  from  him,  he  said,  by  a  British 
spy.  However  this  may  be,  they  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  ISTew  York  World,  and  on  August  15  and  following  days 
were  published.  -  Some  of  the  letters  shown  by  photo-engravings 
bore  the  signatures  of  Count  von  Bernstorff,  Captain  von 
Papen,  Dr.  Albert,  Herr  Hugo  Schmidt,  representing  the 
Deutsches  Bank  of  Berlin,  and  of  many  others  whose  names 
meant  nothing  to  the  public. 

The  story  as  told  by  the  World  was,  in  substance,  that  it 
had  in  its  possession  a  correspondence  revealing  unmistakably 
the  fact  that  representatives  of  the  German  Government  were 
promoting  ventures  directed  not  only  against  the  powers  with 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       171 

which  it  was  at  war,  but  against  the  United  States  as  well; 
that  the  chief  actors  were  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff,  Captain 
Franz  von  Papen,  Dr.  Albert,  Herr  Hugo  Schmidt,  repre- 
senting the  Deutsches  Bank  of  Berlin,  and  that  the  work  of 
these  agents  was  to  get  control  of  and  influence  the  press  of 
the  United  States,  establish  news  services,  finance  professional 
lecturers,  and  moving  picture  shows,  and  "to  enlist  the  sup- 
port of  American  citizens  and  publish  books  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  fomenting  internal  discord  among  the  American  people, 
to  the  advantage  of  the  German  Empire." 

The  German  Government  through  its  agents  sought  control 
of  the  New  York  'Evening  Mail,  and  of  the  American  Press 
Association,  was^building  a  large  munitions  plant,  was  responsi- 
ble for  the  strikes  in  the  Remington  Works,  was  conniving  with 
disloyal  trade  union  leaders  to  foment  others,  and  while  spend- 
ing large  sums  to  arouse  the  people  to  demand  that  war  muni- 
tions be  not  shipped  to  the  Allies,  the  German  Government 
was  arranging  to  manufacture  munitions  for  itself  in  the 
United  States,  and  had  financed  the  Fatherland.  The  docu- 
ments in  possession  of  the  World,  the  editor  of  the  Fatherland 
said,  had  been  stolen  by  a  British  spy  from  Dr.  Albert. 

The  Providence  Journal  now  asserted  that  secret  infor- 
mation from  the  departments  at  Washington  had  come  to  the 
German  Embassy ;  that  Horn  had  confessed  that  he  was  ordered 
to  blow  up  the  Vanceboro  bridge  by  an  attache  of  the  Embassy, 
that  this  attache  was  Captain  Franz  von  Papen,  and  that  from 
records  of  all  wireless  messages  sent  from  and  received  at  Say- 
ville,  furnished  the  State  Department  by  the  Journal,  the  Depart- 
ment believed  that  during  the  period  "covering  the  week  prior 
to  the  LusUanias  sailing  and  the  day  of  her  destruction"  code 
messages  were  sent  by  Captain  Boy-Ed,  giving  to  the  German 
Admiralty  information  as  to  the  route  and  daily  position  of  the 
Lusitania,  furnished  by  a  spiy  in  the  office  of  the  Cunard 
Company. 

All  these  charges,  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  said,  would 
be  given  official  attention  at  the  proper  time.  "It  would  be 
undignified  to  answer  them  piecemeal  at  the  present  time." 

Nevertheless,  on  August  18,  he  made  to  Secretary  Lansing 
a  long  statement  "concerning  the  facts."  Most  of  the  docu- 


172     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

merits  found  in  Dr.  Albert's  portfolio,  he  said,  were  insignifi- 
cant. They  were  proposals,  offers,  advice  of  the  most  "unbal- 
anced and  irresponsible"  kind,  coming  from  every  conceivable 
source.  As  to  the  proposals  to  hamper  munition  plants,  both 
the  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  Governments  considered  it 
their  "right  and  duty,  so  long  as  Great  Britain  continued  her 
piracy  on  the  high  seas,  to  protect  themselves  against  this  inter- 
national system  of  robbery  by  placing  difficulties,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, in  the  way  of  the  export  of  war  materials  for  the  Allies, 
either  by  the  purchase  of  the  factories  or  of  war  material,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  at  present  we  are  not  in  a  position  to 
make  use  of  these  goods  for  our  own  protection."  He  pro- 
tested against  branding  as  German  propaganda  any  attempt 
to  control  the  output  of  a  single  American  factory.  As  to  the 
false  suggestions  "based  on  certain  letters  that  I,  or  some  one 
else  who  has  relations  with  the  German  Government,  have  taken 
part  in  instigating  or  forwarding  strikes  in  munition  factories, 
I  can  only  say  that  such  assertions  or  insinuations  are  ground- 
less." 

Prom  the  Providence  Journal  came  still  more  charges.  At 
the  request  of  the  President,  it  said,  documents  which  proved 
that  for  several  years  before  the  war  a  German  spy  system 
existed  in  the  United  States  had  been  laid  before  Secretary 
Daniels  and  the  members  of  the  Neutrality  Board.  Dr.  Frank, 
head  of  the  Sayville  Wireless  Station,  in  January,  1909,  sought 
to  obtain  admission  to  parts  of  an  American  ship,  not  open 
to  visitors,  in  order  to  obtain  the  secret  of  its  fire  control 
system.  That  in  1911,  during  the  Morocco  trouble,  the  naval 
attache  at  the  German  Embassy  attempted  to  use  the  Sayville 
Station  to  send  orders  to  the  German  fleet  cruising  in  the 
British  Channel  and  North  Sea.  That  in  1910  the  same 
attache  attempted  to  obtain  full  and  accurate  information  con- 
cerning the  entire  wireless  service  in  the  United  States,  the 
naval  radio  service  included.  That  in  May,  1911,  the  Telefun- 
ken  Company  of  Berlin,  under  orders  from  the  German  For- 
eign Office,  sought  to  submit  to  the  United  States  Government 
a  bid  for  supplying  and  installing  a  large  number  of  wireless 
stations  in  the  Philippines,  at  stations  marked  on  a  special 
map  supplied  to  the  Telefunken  Company  by  the  German  Gov- 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       173 

eminent.  That  in  1913  the  general  manager  of  the  Telefunken 
Company  and  an  officer  of  the  German  army  sought  to  obtain 
control  of  "an  entire  chain  of  private  wireless  stations,  and  of 
stations  owned  by  other  Governments  in  South  and  Central 
America  working  through  Sayville." 

Further  evidence  presented  to  Secretary  Daniels  went  to 
show  that  a  civilian  employed  in  the  electrical  service  of  the 
Navy  Department  was  in  the  pay  of  Germany,  and  that  in 
1913,  when  the  Department  ordered  a  report  on  conditions  at 
Sayville,  "the  report  was  in  the  possession  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment before  it  reached  the  United  States  Government." 
German  interests  had  done  "everything  in  their  power  to  force 
the  ship  purchase  bill  through  Congress"  as  a  means  of  forc- 
ing "the  purchase  of  the  Hamburg-American  ships  tied  up  in 
New  York  Harbor." 

Evidence,  supporting  many  of  the  charges  made  by  the 
Providence  Journal,  now  came  from  a  most  unexpected  source. 
On  August  30,  an  American  newspaper  correspondent,  Mr. 
James  J.  F.  Archibald,  on  his  way  to  Germany  on  the  Rot- 
terdam,, was  detained  by  the  British  authorities  at  Falmouth. 
He  was  the  same  Mr.  Archibald  who  in  April  had  traveled 
about  the  country  delivering  a  pro-German  illustrated  lecture 
intended  to  set  forth  the  power  and  efficiency  of  Germany. 
In  his  possession  were  found  some  thirty-four  documents  which 
he  was  to  deliver  in  Berlin  and  Vienna.  Among  them  were 
letters  of.  recommendation  to  the  German  and  Austro- 
Hungarian  authorities  from  Dr.  Dumba,  Count  von  Bernstorff 
and  Captain  von  Papen.  He  "is  again  going  to  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary,"  said  von  Papen,  "to  collect  new  impressions 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  strictly  impartial  journalist  that 
he  has  always  been."  "I  have  heard  with  pleasure,"  said 
von  Bernstorff  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Archibald,  "that  you  wish 
once  more  to  return  to  Germany  and  Austria  after  having 
promoted  our  interests  out  here  in  such  a  zealous  and  successful 
manner." 

The  all  important  letter  which  was  at  once  cabled  to  New 
York  from  London  and  promptly  published  in  the  newspapers 
was  written  by  Dr.  Dumba  to  -Baron  Burian,  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Foreign  Minister,  inclosing  an  aide  memoire  from 


174     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  editor  of  an  Hungarian  newspaper  suggesting  how  a  strike 
might  be  brought  about  at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  and  Munition 
works. 

"Yesterday  evening  Consul  General  von  Nuber  received 
the  enclosed  aide  memoire  from  the  chief  editor  of  the  locally 
known  paper,  Szabodsog,  after  a  previous  conference  with  him 
and  in  pursuance  of  his  proposals  to  arrange  for  strikes  in  the 
Bethlehem  Schwab  Steel  and  Munitions  War  factory,  and  also 
in  the  Middle  West. 

"Dr.  Archibald,  who  is  well  known  to  your  Lordship,  leaves 
to-day  at  twelve  o'clock  on  board  the  Rotterdam  for  Berlin  and 
Vienna.  I  take  this  rare  and  safe  opportunity  to  warmly 
recommend  the  proposal  to  your  Lordship's  favorable  consid- 
eration. 

"It  is  my  impression  that  we  can  disorganize  and  hold  up 
for  months,  if  not  entirely  prevent,  the  manufacture  of  muni- 
tions in  Bethlehem  and  the  Middle  West,  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  German  military  attache,  is  of  great  importance  and 
amply  outweighs  the  expenditure  of  money  involved. 

"But  if  the  strikes  do  not  come  off  it  is  probable  that  we 
should  extort,  under  pressure  of  the  crises,  more  favorable  con- 
ditions of  labor  for  our  poor,  downtrodden  fellow-countrymen. 
In  Bethlehem  these  white  slaves  are  now  working  for  twelve 
hours  a  day  and  seven  days  a  week.  All  weak  persons  succumb 
and  become  consumptives.  So  far  as  German  workmen  are 
found  among  the  skilled  hands,  a  means  of  leaving  will  be  pro- 
vided for  them.  Besides  this,  a  private  German  registry  office 
has  been  established,  which  provides  employment  for  persons 
who  have  voluntarily  given  up  their  places,  and  is  already  work- 
ing well.  They  will  also  join  and  the  widest  support  is 
assured  us. 

"J  beg  your  Excellency  to  be  so  good  as  to  inform  me  with 
reference  to  this  letter  by  wireless  telegraphy,  replying  whether 
you  agree." 

Dr.  Dumba  when  seen  at  Lenox  by  the  newspaper  corre- 
spondents was  not  at  all  disturbed,  admitted  writing  the  letter, 
and  said,  "I  can't  understand  how  Archibald  could  have  been 
so  stupid."  Everything  could  be  explained.  The  proposals 
to  embarrass  the  steel  works  were  nothing  more  than  "a  very 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       175 

• 

open  and  proper  method  to  be  taken  to  bring  before  our  races 
employed  in  the  big  steel  works  the  fact  that  they  are  engaged 
in  enterprises  which  are  unfriendly  to  their  Fatherland  and 
that  the  Imperial  Government  would  hold  the  workers  in  muni- 
tion plants  where  contracts  are  being  filled  for  the  Allies,  as 
being  guilty  of  a  serious  crime  against  their  country."  In 
order  to  bring  this  before  the  natives  of  Bohemia,  Moravia, 
Camiola,  Galicia,  Dalmatia,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  and  other  races 
from  Austria-Hungary  he  had  "subsidized  many  newspapers 
published  in  the  languages  and  dialects  of  the  divisions  men- 
tioned, attempting  in  this  way  to  bring  their  felonious  occu- 
pations to  their  attention."  This  seemed  to  him  "a  peaceful 
and  entirely  satisfactory  means  of  preventing  the  making  and 
shipment  of  war  material  to  our  Allies." 

The  Government  thought  otherwise  and  on  September  8 
requested  that  Dr.  Dumba  be  recalled. 

Mr.  Constantine  Dumba,  the  Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador  at 
Washington,  has  admitted  that  he  proposed  to  his  Government  plans 
to  instigate  strikes  in  American  manufacturing  plants  engaged  in 
the  production  of  munitions  of  war.  The  information  reached  this 
Government  through  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  the  Ambassador  to  his 
Government.  The  bearer  was  an  American  citizen  named  Archibald 
who  was  traveling  under  an  American  passport.  The  Ambassador  has 
admitted  that  he  employed  Archibald  to  bear  official  dispatches  from 
him  to  his  Government. 

By  reason  of  the  admitted  purpose  and  intent  of  Mr.  Dumba  to 
conspire  to  cripple  legitimate  industries  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  to  interrupt  their  legitimate  trade,  and  by  reason  of  the 
flagrant  violation  of  diplomatic  propriety  in  employing  an  American 
citizen,  protected  by  an  American  passport,  as  a  secret  bearer  of 
official  dispatches  through  the  lines  of  the  enemy  of  Austria-Hungary 
.  .  .  Mr.  Dumba  is  no  longer  acceptable  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  as  the  Ambassador  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  at 
Washington. 

Dr.  Dumba  desired  to  return  on  a  leave  of  absence,  but  the 
Secretary  of  State  insisted  on  a  recall.  Thereupon  he  addressed 
an  impudent  note  of  protest  to  the  Secretary  of  State  and  made 
it  public  through  the  newspapers. 

While  the  newspapers  were  attacking  Dumba  for  his  \nso- 


176     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

lence,  a  White  Paper,  containing  the  thirty-four  letters  taken 
from  Mr.  Archibald,  was  laid  before  Parliament,  on  Septem- 
ber 21,  and  the  documents,  immediately  telegraphed  to  the 
United  States,  were  published  in  the  newspapers.  Among  them 
were  three  letters  from  Dumba.  One  was  that  already  made 
public.  Another  was  a  report  on  the  documents  lost  by  Dr. 
Heinrich  Albert  on  July  31.  The  letter  of  Dr.  Dumba  was 
dated  August  20. 

A  portfolio  containing  a  number  of  papers  was  stolen  from  the 
Financial  Adviser  of  the  German  Embassy  here,  evidently  by  the 
English  Secret  Service.  These  papers  were  all  typewritten,  unfin- 
ished copies,  or  else  memorials  from  petitioners  (Eingaben  von 
Bittstellern) .  The  documents  were  immediately  published  as  a  great 
sensation  and  with  much  tom-tom  beating  by  the  World,  which  has 
entirely  gone  over  to  the  English  jingo  camp.  The  gravest  accusa- 
tions are  made  by  the  papers  against  the  German  Embassy,  Count 
von  Bernstorff,  the  military  attache,  Captain  von  Papen,  and  Geheim- 
rat  Albert,  in  particular  in  that  they  had  secretly  conspired  against 
the  safety  of  the  United  States  by  purchasing  arms  and  munition 
factories,  by  making  false  contracts  with  Russia  and  France,  by 
acquiring  great  quantities  of  materials  for  explosives,  also  by  attempt- 
ing to  corrupt  the  Press,  and  to  stir  up  strikes  in  munition  factories ; 
also  by  organizing  in  every  class  in  America  a  widespread  agitation 
in  favor  of  effecting  a  general  embargo.  The  other  great  New  York 
papers  second  the  World,  though  less  violently.  Their  leading  articles 
deal  with  the  exposure  of  the  facts,  and  accuse  Germany  of  every 
possible  and  impossible  machination;  for  instance,  they,  like  the 
World,  assert  that  the  German  Government  wishes  to  prevent  the 
supply  of  ammunition  in  the  case  of  the  Allies,  and  at  the  same  time 
secretly  to  send  over  large  quantities  from  here  for  their  own  use. 

Count  von  Bernstorff  took  up  the  position  that  these  slanders 
required  no  answer  and  had  the  happy  inspiration  to  refuse  any 
explanation.  He  is  in  no  way  compromised.  On  the  contrary,  it 
appears  from  the  published  correspondence  of  various  press  agents 
that  he  had  put  his  veto  on  the  purchase  of  a  press  agency. 

Geheimrat  Albert,  on  the  other  hand,  published  a  very  clever 
explanation,  the  text  of  which  I  permit  myself  to  lay  before  your 
Excellency.  The  German  Embassy  derives  especial  benefit  from  hav- 
ing already  on  the  fifteenth  of  June  officially  announced  to  the  State 
Department  that  they  were  obliged  to  buy  as  much  war  material  as 
possible  in  this  country  to  control  its  delivery  in  order  to  prevent  the 
enemy  from  acquiring  it.  This  material  is  now  at  the  disposal  of  the 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       177 

American  Government,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  at  favorable  prices, 
and  its  acquisition  by  the  United  States  would  only  serve  to  increase 
their  preparedness  for  war. 

This  knocks  the  bottom  out  of  the  ridiculous  accusation  of  a  con- 
spiracy. Moreover,  with  regard  to  the  accusation  of  stirring  up 
strikes,  there  is  no  evidence  to  support  the  bare  charge.  In  spite  of 
this,  everything  German  here  will  be  still  more  energetically  and 
consistently  slandered  and  befouled.  No  impartial  person  could  fail 
to  be  impressed  by  a  feeling  of  gratitude  at  the  wide  activity  of 
Geheimrat  Albert.  There  are,  however,  very  few  impartial  people  in 
New  York.  The  torpedoing  of  the  Arabic,  should  she  have  been  sunk 
without  warning,  or  should  any  American  passengers  have  lost  their 
lives,  will  have  a  more  unfavorable  effect  as  regards  Germany  on  pub- 
lic opinion  in  the  United  States  of  America  than  all  the  newspaper 
revelations. 

The  Royal  and  Imperial  Ambassador, 

DUMBA. 

The  third  letter  from  Dr.  Dumba  related  to  Mr.  Lansing's 
reply  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  note  of  June  29. 

New  York,  August  20,  1915. 

Subject:  Uselessness  of  attempts  to  bring  about  an  embargo  on 
weapons  and  munitions.  The  prohibition  of  shipping  munitions  in 
passenger  ships  to  be  attempted  afresh. 

1.     Enclosure. 

To  His  Excellency  the  Foreign  Minister, 
Freiherr  von  Buxian. 

The  reply  of  Mr.  Lansing  to  the  note  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  June, 
in  which  your  Excellency  protested  against  the  enormous  deliveries 
of  weapons  and  munitions  to  the  Allies  from  the  United  States  of 
America  was  published  here — I  do  not  know  whether  with  the  agree- 
ment of  the  Austrian  Government — on  the  16th  ult. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  refusal  was  quite  categorical.  The 
legal  arguments  are  certainly  very  weak,  for  the  reference  to  the 
articles  supplied  by  Germany  and  Austria  during  the  Boer  War  are 
not  to  the  point  and  are  misleading,  for  at  that  time  Germany  claimed 
the  right  to  send  foodstuffs  to  the  Boers  via  the  neutral  port  of 
Lorenzo  Marques  and — if  I  am  not  mistaken — carried  the  point,  after 
the  war,  against  England. 

The  true  ground  of  the  discouraging  attitude  of  the  President 
lies — as  his  confidant,  Mr.  House,  already  informed  me  in  January 
and  has  now  repeated — in  the  fact  that  authoritative  circles  are  con- 
vinced that  the  United  States  of  America  in  any  serious  crises  would 
have  to  rely  on  neutral  foreign  countries  for  all  their  war  material. 
At  no  price  and  in  no  case  will  Mr.  Wilson  allow  this  source  to  dry  up. 


178     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

For  this  reason  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  return  to  the  question, 
whether  officially  by  a  reply  from  your  Excellency,  or  by  a  semi-official 
conversation  between  myself  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  is  not  only 
useless,  but  even,  having  regard  to  the  somewhat  self-willed  tempera- 
ment of  the  President,  harmful.  In  this  matter  I  agree  entirely  with 
the  view  expressed  by  Consul  Schwegel  in  the  report  attached.  The 
President  has  broken  all  the  bridges  behind  him  and  has  made  his 
point  of  view  so  definite  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  retreat  from 
this  position.  As  last  autumn,  he  can  always,  through  his  personal 
influence,  either  force  the  House  of  Representatives  to  take  his  point 
of  view  against  their  better  judgment  or,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 
Senate,  can  overthrow  a  resolution,  already  voted,  in  favor  of  pro- 
hibiting the  export  of  guns  and  munitions. 

In  these  circumstances  any  attempts  to  persuade  individual  States 
to  vote  parallel  resolutions  through  their  legislative  bodies  offer  no 
advantages,  apart  from  the  internal  difficulties  which  the  execution 
of  this  plan  presents. 

The  proposal  to  forbid  passenger  ships  to  carry  munitions  stands 
on  a  different  footing,  however.  Mr.  Bryan  and  his  democratic  sup- 
porters would  stand  for  this  prohibition  rigorously,  and  I  believe  that 
the  President  would  not  show  himself  so  "intransigeant"  with  regard 
to  this  action. 

As  for  the  note  of  protest  against  the  British  interference  with 
shipping  (Seeu'bergriffe'),  which  has  so  often  been  notified  and  as 
often  postponed,  I  learn  that  the  issue  has  been  delayed  in  conse- 
quence of  the  imminent  declaration  of  cotton  as  contraband.  The 
feeling  which  obtains  amongst  the  great  American  importers  is  accu- 
rately represented  in  Mr.  Meagher's  speech,  quoted  by  Consul 
Schwegel.  Mr.  Meagher  is  one  of  the  principal  exporters  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  for  he  is  a  partner  of  the  Chicago  firm  of 
Armour  &  Co.,  who,  with  the  firm  of  Swift,  control  the  meat  market 
of  the  whole  Western  Hemisphere. 

Mr.  Meagher,  whom  I  recently  met  on  a  yacht,  and  whose  acquaint- 
ance I  had  already  made  in  Chicago,  is  absolutely  furious  with  regard 
to  England's  arbitrary  acts.  No  fewer  than  thirty-one  ships  with 
meat  and  bacon  shipments  of  his  firm  for  Sweden,  in  value  nineteen 
million  dollars,  have  been  detained  in  English  ports  for  months  under 
suspicion  of  being  ultimately  intended  for  Germany.  The  negotia- 
tions are  being  so  long  drawn  out  because  Mr.  Meagher  and  his  com- 
panions will  not  accept  a  lame  compromise,  but  insist  on  full  compen- 
sation or  release  of  the  consignments  in  which  the  bacon  may  be  still 
sound.  My  informant  further  gave  me  to  understand  that  he  had  not 
yet  played  his  last  trump — namely,  the  refusal  to  import  meat  to 
England  in  any  circumstances.  He,  that  is  to  say,  the  two  above- 
named  slaughtering  houses,  controlled  the  Argentine  market.  At  the 
present  moment  they  are  paralyzed  here  also  by  the  action  of  the 
British  Admiralty,  for  the  latter  have  commandeered  most  of  the 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS      179 

English  freight  ships  intended  for  the  transport  of  meat  from  the 
Argentine.  If  England  stood  face  to  face  with  the  danger  of  not 
being  able  to  get  any  meat  from  the  United  States  of  America,  or 
the  Argentine,  she  would  soon  give  in. 

What  the  immediate  result  of  making  cotton  contraband  will  be 
is  hard  to  say.  The  anger  of  those  interested  in  cotton  will  bo 
enormously  increased.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fear  of  the  threatened 
confiscation  may  make  the  leaders  of  the  Cotton  Trust  so  yielding 
that  they,  against  their  better  judgment,  may  agree  to  the  sale  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  present  supply  en  bloc  to  England,  who  would  be 
in  the  position  in  the  future  to  control  the  whole  cotton  market,  and, 
on  peace  being  declared,  to  force  on  the  whole  world  fantastic  prices 
for  this  essential  raw  material. 

The  Imperial  Ambassador, 

C.  DUMBA. 

There  were  also  two  Ietter8  from  Captain  von  Papen. 
These  related  to  the  papers  lost  by  Dr.  Albert,  and  reviewed 
the  effect  of  their  publication  from  a  business  point  of  view. 

BRIDGEPORT  PROJECTILE  COMPANY  : — The  report  of  the  treasurer  of 
this  society  of  June  30,  which  I  forwarded  on  July  13,  J.  No.  1888,  to 
the  Imperial  War  Office,  was  among  the  stolen  papers. 

The  statement  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  president  of  the 
Etna  Explosives  Company,  that  he  wished  to  repudiate  the  powder 
contract  with  the  Bridgeport  Projectile  Company,  is  naturally  .only 
newspaper  gossip,  and  was  weakened  yesterday  by  a  new  announce- 
ment of  the  firm. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  manufacturers  will  put  many  difficulties 
in  our  way  with  regard  to  the  delivery  of  the  presses,  for  the  careful 
phrasing  of  the  contract  makes  an  attack  upon  the  Projectile  Com- 
pany, under  the  well-known  Sherman  Law,  out  of  the  question,  and 
the  view  that  the  manufacturers  had  thought  that  the  consignments 
were  intended  for  the  Allies — that  is  to  say,  that  we  obtained  the 
contracts  under  false  pretenses — is  not  strong  enough  from  a  legal 
point  of  view  to  expose  the  manufacturers  to  the  expenses  and  conse- 
quences of  a  legal  action. 

The  only  actual  damage  consists  therein,  that  the  Russian  and 
English  Commission  broke  off  their  negotiations  with  the  Bridgeport 
Projectile  Company  at  once,  and  accordingly  our  prospects  of  pre- 
venting other  firms  here  from  embarking  on  the  supply  of  war  mate- 
rial by  the  undertaking  and  the  non-delivery  of  a  shrapnel  contract 
have  come  to  nothing. 

The  purchase  of  phenol  by  Dr.  Schweitzer  from  the  Edison  Com- 
pany, which  was  discovered  at  the  same  time,  has  been  settled  by  the 


180     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

public  declaration  that  this  phenol  was  only  to  be  used  for  medicinal 
purposes. 

Most  of  all,  our  attempts  with  regard  to  the  purchase  of  liquid 
chlorine  have  been  hindered,  as  any  control  (Bindung)  of  the  Castner 
Chemical  Company,  which  is  friendly  to  England,  through  a  middle- 
man seems  now  out  of  the  question. 

I  will  make  use  of  the  means  put  at  my  disposal  (information  of 
Mr.  Grithen)  in  order  to  come  to  an  agreement  with  the  Electro- 
Bleaching  Gas  Company. 

The  publication  of  the  negotiations  with  regard  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  Wright  patents  is  without  importance,  because  our  view 
that  we  could  obtain  a  legal  decision  against  the  Curtiss  Company 
probably  could  not  have  been  maintained. 

The  culminating  point  of  all  attacks  against  us  lies  in  the  asser- 
tion of  the  "unstraightforwardness  and  deceit"  of  German  policy, 
which,  on  the  one  hand,  carries  on  with  all  the  means  at  its  disposal  a 
propaganda  for  the  prohibition  of  the  export  of  arms,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  secretly  purchases  war  material  for  Germany.  This  accu- 
sation could  not  better  be  refuted  than  by  the  publication  of  the 
memorandum  which  the  Imperial  Ambassador  already  on  the  twelfth 
of  June  addressed  to  this  Government  at  my  request. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  reply  to  the  telegraphic  request  of  his 
Excellency  to  the  State  Department  to  be  good  enough  to  publish  this 
memorandum  the  reply  was :  "We  cannot  find  it,  please  send  a  copy." 

The  existence  of  the  memorandum  is  evidence  beyond  all  doubt 
that,  in  the  first  place,  the  purchase  of  war  material  by  us  was  a 
consequential  part  of  our  propaganda  for  the  prohibition  of  the  export 
of  war  material,  and  that,  in  the  second  place,  our  action  met  in  the 
widest  sense  the  views  of  the  United  States  Government  with  regard 
to  strengthening  their  own  fighting  power  at  the  present  moment. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  publication  can  only  be  regarded  as 
advantageous. 

PAPEN. 

His  second  letter,  the  "idiotic  Yankees"  letter,  was  written 
to  his  wife. 

New  York,  August  20,  1915. 

We  have  great  need  of  being  %ucked  up,"  as  they  say  here.  Since 
Sunday  a  new  storm  has  been  raging  against  us — and  because  of 
what  ?  I'm  sending  you  a  few  cuttings  from  the  newspapers  that  will 
amuse  you.  Unfortunately  they  stole  a  fat  portfolio  from  our  good 
Albert  in  the  Elevated  (English  secret  service,  of  course!),  of  which 
the  principal  contents  have  been  published.  You  can  imagine  the 
sensation  among  the  Americans!  Unfortunately  there  were  some 
very  important  things  from  my  report  among  them,  such  as  the  buy- 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       181 

ing  up  of  liquid  chlorine  and  about  the  Bridgeport  Projectile  Com- 
pany, as  well  as  documents  regarding'the  buying  up  of  phenol  (from 
which  explosives  are  made)  and  the  acquisition  of  the  Wright 
aeroplane  patent. 

But  things  like  that  must  occur.  I  send  you  Albert's  reply  for 
you  to  see  how  we  protect  ourselves.  We  composed  the  document 
together  yesterday. 

It  seems  quite  likely  that  we  shall  meet  again  soon.  The  sinking 
of  the  Adriatic  (sic)  may  well  be  the  last  straw.  I  hope  in  our 
interest  that  the  danger  will  blow  over. 

How  splendid  on  the  Eastern  front.  I  always  say  to  these  idiotic 
Yankees  they  had  better  hold  their  tongues — it's  better  to  look  at  all 
this  heroism  full  of  admiration.  My  friends  in  the  army  are  quite 
different  in  this  way. 

A  sixth  document  was  a  copy  of  a  note  from  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  written  on 
August  18,  just  at  the  time  the  New  York  World  was  publish- 
ing the  papers  lost  by  Dr.  Albert. 

Because  of  "the  wide  publicity  given  to  documents  and 
letters  stolen  from  a  member  of  my  staff,"  and  "the  entirely 
false  and  unjustifiable  conclusion  attempted  to  be  drawn  from 
these  documents  as  appears  in  the  press  comments  and  leading 
articles,"  he  had  decided  "to  make  a  short  statement  confirm- 
ing the  facts." 

As  the  representative  of  one  of  the  great  nations  involved 
in  the  wprld  war,  it  was  inevitable  that  he  "should  receive 
from  every  conceivable  source  and  from  most  unbalanced  and 
irresponsible  authors,  proposals  and  actvice."  Most  of  the 
documents  found  in  the  stolen  portfolio,  he  said,  were  of  this 
kind. 

"It  is  asserted  that  the  documents  show  that  the  German 
Government"  is  acquiring  ammunition  factories  while  at  the 
same  time  demanding  that  the  export  of  war  material  to  the 
Allies  be  stopped,  and  that  it  was  supporting  "a  propaganda 
in  favor  of  this."  He  could  not  "understand  on  what  grounds 
criticism  of  our  behavior  in  this  respect  can  be  based."  He 
regarded  it  as  "a  right  and  duty,  so  long  as  Great  Britain  con- 
tinued her  piracy  on  the  high  seas,"  to  place  "difficulties  as  far 
as  possible  in  the  way  of  the  export  of  war  material  for  the 
Allies  either  by  the  purchase  of  factories  or  war  material,  in 


182     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

spite  of  the  fact  that  for  the  present  we  are  not  in  a  position 
to  make  use  of  these  goods  for  our  own  protection." 

"If,"  he  continued,  "we  possessed  the  means  and  oppor- 
tunities, we  would  buy  up  every  munition  factory  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  if  in  this  way  we  could  deprive  the  enemy 
of  munitions  and  our  proceeding  would  not  involve  a  lack  of 
logic  or  mala  fides."  To  show  that  the  proposed  plan  to  pur- 
chase war  material  was  not  unknown  to  the  Department  of 
State,  he  quoted  from  a  note  of  June  12. 

Criticism  of  the  plan  "to  prevent  the  export  of  liquid 
chlorine  to  the  Allies,  through  buying  the  output,"  was  unjusti- 
fied "when  one  bears  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment would  not  supply  rubber  or  wool  to  a  manufacturer  save 
on  condition  that  he  sells  the  whole  output  through  a  British 
agency,  and  is  prevented  from  selling  to  Germany  or  Austria- 
Hungary";  that  producers  of  copper  "are  forced  to  proceed 
in  the  same  manner  with  regard  to  their  output,"  and  that 
manufacturers  of  "preserved  provisions  equally  are  forced  to 
refuse  to  supply  their  goods  to  neutral  countries  unless  Great 
Britain,  through  her  own  agents,  allows  them  to  carry  out  their 
contracts."  The  moment  the  German  Government  tries  to  get 
control  of  the  output  of  a  single  factory,  "this  perfectly  lawful 
proceeding  is  branded  far  and  wide  as  a  propaganda  which 
'entangles  the  United  States  in  the  European  war,'  and  'in- 
volves a  flagrant  breach  of  the  spirit  and  object  of  the  American 
anti-trust  law.' ' 

"To  the  false  suggestion,  based  on  certain  letters,  that  I, 
or  some  one  else  who  has  relations  with  the  German  Govern- 
ment, has  taken  part  in  the  instigation  and  forwarding  of 
strikes  in  munition  factories,  J  can  only  say  that  such  asser- 
tions and  insinuations  are  groundless." 

Nevertheless,  such  strikes  had  occurred  to  an  extent  never 
known  before.  During  July,  August,  September  and  October 
there  were  one  hundred  and  two  strikes  and  six  lockouts  of 
machinists  employed  in  munition  plants.  Fifty  of  these  were 
in  Bridgeport,  Connecticut.  According  to  the  report  of  the 
Executive  Council  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  to 
its  annual  convention,  attempts  had  been  made  by  German 
and  Austrian  agents  to  buy  labor  leaders  to  foment  strikes. 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       183 

According  to  the  testimony  of  a  score  of  men  arrested  and 
convicted  of  conspiracy  to  destroy  munition  ships  and  muni- 
tion plants,  the  representatives  of  Germany  and  Austria  were 
not  guiltless. 

The  purchase  of  ten  pounds  of  picric  acid,  a  chemical  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  high  explosives,  led  on  October  24  to  the 
arrest  in  Jersey  City  of  Robert  Fay  and  Walter  Scholz,  on 
suspicion  of  connection  with  explosions  in  ammunition  works, 
and  of  bombs  on  board  steamers  carrying  supplies  to  the  ene- 
mies of  Germany.  Fay  in  a  confession  claimed  he  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  German  army,  and,  while  serving  with  his  regi- 
ment in  the  Champaigne  district,  invented  so  clever  a  device 
for  exploding  mines  without  electrical  wiring  that  he  was  put 
in  touch  with  the  German  Secret  Service  by  his  colonel  and 
sent  to  the  United  States.  His  object  in  coming  was  to  cut 
off  the  supply  of  ammunition  to  the  Allies  by  attaching  to  the 
sterns  or  propellers  of  ammunition-laden  vessels  the  mines  of 
his  invention,  so  timed  that  they  would  explode  when  the 
steamer  was  in  mid-Atlantic.  "Both  Captain  von  Papen  and 
Captain  Boy-Ed  refused  to  make  any  use  of  my  device  in 
this  country."  More  arrests  followed  and  soon  seven  men 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  authorities. 

Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  having  assured  the  Department 
of  State  that  Fay  had  no  connection  with  the  German  Secret 
Service,  nor  with  the  German  Government,  the  Department 
left  the  matter  to  be  settled  by  the  Courts,  and  on  November  8, 
Fay,  Max  Breitung,  Walter  L.  Scholz,  Paul  Deache,  Dr.  Her- 
bert Krenzle,  and  Bronkhorst  were  duly  indicted  on  two  counts. 
The  first  charged  that  Fay  and  his  associates  devised  "a  metal 
box  containing  springs,  coils  and  other  mechanisms  and  loaded 
with  dynamite,  trinitrotoluol  and  other  explosives"  and  had 
conspired  to  attach  it  to  steamships  sailing  out  from  New 
York. 

The  second  charged  them  with  conspiracy  to  injure  persons 
who  had  underwritten  policies  of  insurance  on  the  vessels  they 
sought  to  destroy.  December  13,  all  save  Deache  were  rear- 
raigned  to  plead  to  five  new  charges. 

Dr.  Joseph  Goricar,  for  many  years  in  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  consular  service,  and  who  resigned  in  December,  1914, 


now  came  forward  with  specific  charges  in  the  Providence 
Journal.  The  United  States,  he  said,  were  honeycombed  with 
German  and  Austrian  spies,  all  working  directly  under 
von  Bernstorff  and  Consul  General  von  Nuber;  that  every 
Austro-Hungarian  consul  in  the  country  was  a  center  of  propa- 
ganda for  the  destruction  of  munition  factories,  for  the  crea- 
tion of  strikes.  The  office  of  von  JN"uber  in  New  York  was  the 
center  of  the  plot  for  securing  fraudulent  passports  under 
which  hundreds  of  German  and  Austrian  reservists  had  been 
able  to  return  to  their  colors. 

"The  United  States,"  he  said,  "is  not  awake  to  the  danger 
which  threatens  her  from  the  activities  of  German  and  Aus- 
trian agents  who  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  have  spent 
$30,000,000  to  $40,000,000  in  this  country  in  their  efforts  to 
destroy  life  and  property. 

"I  charge  that  the  German  Ambassador,  knowing  that  the 
Austrian  consulates  have  far  more  influence  among  their 
people  here  than  the  German  consulates  have  among  theirs, 
has  worked  through  Ambassador  Dumba  and  Consul  General 
von  Nuber  to  cause  every  Austrian  consulate  in  the  United 
States  to  become  a  center  of  intrigue  of  the  most  criminal 
character."  He  charged  that  the  Austrian  consuls  at  Cleve- 
land, St.  Louis,  Pittsburgh,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  St. 
Paul  were  the  men  on  whom  von  Bernstorff  and  von  Nuber 
depended  "to  carry  out  their  infamous  work"  and  that  they 
held  regular  conferences  with  von  Nuber.  He  charged  that 
von  Nuber  had  in  his  employ  "a  gang  of  men  who  are  regu- 
larly subsidizing  foreign  language  newspapers."  Many  times 
since  Dumba' s  departure  von  Nuber  had  been  doing  the  very 
same  sort  of  acts  as  those  which  led  to  Dumba's  dismissal. 
"Within  the  past  week  von  Nuber,  at  the  suggestion  of  Ambas- 
sador von  Bernstorff,"  Dr.  Goricar  charged,  had  ordered  his  con- 
suls scattered  over  the  country  "to  close  in  on  the  campaign  to 
get  workers  out  of  munition  factories,"  and  to  force  them  out 
was  working  through  the  great  secret  societies  and  fraternal 
organizations  with  which  the  men  weve  connected. 

The  consuls  accused  by  Dr.  Goricar  one  and  all  denied  the 
charges  and  denounced  him  as  a  traitor  and  a  renegade;  and 
some  one  in  behalf  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Embassy  issued 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       185 

a  statement.  This,  too,  was  almost  wholly  given  up  to  de- 
nouncing Dr.  Goricar,  and  dismissed  his  charges  with  the  words 
"the  Embassy  must  emphatically  declare  these  accusations  as 
false  and  absolutely  groundless." 

The  Journal  thereupon  began  the  publication  of  documen- 
tary evidence  in  support  of  its  charges.  Among  these  docu- 
ments were  facsimiles  of  letters  from  the  Austrian  Consul 
General  in  New  York  and  the  Austrian  consul  in  Philadelphia 
to  certain  workers  in  munition  factories  who  had  written  asking 
the  meaning  of  an  advertisement  which  had  appeared  in  the 
foreign  language  newspapers. 

"The  Imperial  and  Royal  Austro-Hungarian  Embassy," 
this  warning  said,  acting  under  orders  from  the  home  Govern- 
ment, gave  notice  to  "all  Austrians  and  Hungarians,  including 
the  men  who  belong  to  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,"  that  all  who 
were  making  arms  or  ammunition  for  the  Allies  were  "commit- 
ting a  crime  against  the  military  safety  of  their  Fatherland," 
a  crime  punishable  by  imprisonment  for  from  ten  to  twenty 
years,  or  it  might  be  with  death.  Against  those  who  violated  the 
order  "the  whole  force  of  the  land  will  be  brought  in  the  event 
of  their  return  to  their  own  country." 

So  specific  were  the  charges  made  by  Dr.  Goricar,  so  con- 
vincing was  the  evidence  presented  by  the  Journal,  that  the 
Department  of  Justice  at  once  began  to  investigate.  Had  other 
evidence  been  needed  it  might  have  been  found  in  the  startling 
series  of  explosions  and  fires  which  just  at  this  time  wrecked 
parts  of  some  of  the  great  munition  plants  in  the  East.  On 
November  10,  flames  consumed  a  machine  shop  at  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Company,  destroyed  machinery  and  war  material  valued 
at  $1,000,000  and  threw  out  of  employment  some  2,100  men. 
That  same  day  a  building  used  for  the  storage  of  patterns,  be- 
longing to  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  at  Eddystone,  was 
burned  to  the  ground.  Twenty-four  hours  later  a  new  wire- 
rope  shop  belonging  to  the  John  A.  Roeblings'  Sons  Company  at 
Trenton  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire.  The  firm  declared  they 
had  no  war  orders,  but  the  origin  of  the  fire  was  as  mysterious 
as  were  those  at  Bethlehem  and  Eddystone. 

While  the  causes  of  these  fires  were  under  investigation, 
the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  of  the  Department  of 


186     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Justice  was  sent  to  confer  with  the  editor  of  the  Providence 
Journal  and  Dr.  Goricar.  On  his  return  to  Washington  the 
Department  of  Justice  announced  that  "much  information  of 
a  valuable  nature  was  obtained  concerning  the  activities  of 
Austrian  Consul  General  von  Nuber  and  his  associates,  the 
details  of  which  cannot  be  disclosed  at  present.  Prompt  inves- 
tigation, however,  will  be  made.  Information  was  also  obtained 
which  probably  will  lead  to  further  indictments  for  passport 
frauds." 

A  Reuter  dispatch  giving  a  summary  of  the  charges  of 
Dr.  Goricar  having  reached  Vienna,  Baron  Burian  at  once 
instructed  the  Austrian  charge  at  Washington  to  make  a  "cate- 
gorical and  official  denial  of  these  inventions." 

"According  to  Reuter,"  so  ran  the  message,  "former  Austro- 
Hungarian  Consul  Goricar  has  made  totally  false  statements 
in  the  Providence  Journal  about  Austro-Hungarian  and  Ger- 
man espionage  in  the  United  States.  You  are  authorized  to 
make  categorical  and  official  denial  of  these  inventions." 

Baron  Erich  Zwiedinek,  Austro-Hungarian  charge,  accord- 
ingly visited  the  Department  of  State  and  protested  against 
the  issuance  in  the  name  of  the  Department  of  Justice  of  the 
statement  which  he  claimed  tended  to  confirm  the  alleged 
unlawful  activities  of  the  Austrian  consular  offices  made  by 
Dr.  Joseph  Goricar. 

To  this  the  Providence  Journal  made  reply  that,  in  view 
"of  the  astounding  action  of  Baron  Zwiedinek,  the  Journal  now 
feels  called  upon  to  declare  it  has  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Department  of  Justice  conclusive  proof  not  only  of  the  guilt 
of  Baron  von  Nuber  and  Vice  Consul  Samuel  Augyal  of  the 
New  York  consulate,  but  also  of  Consul  General  von  Grivicio, 
formerly  of  Philadelphia,  and  Baron  Lother  von  Hanser  of  the 
Pittsburgh  consulate. 

"Furthermore,  the  Journal  has  also  given  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  conclusive  proof  of  the  guilt  of  Baron  von 
Zwiedinek  himself  on  several  occasions  since  the  departure  of 
Ambassador  Dumba."  Proof  of  the  guilt  of  the  Austrian  offi- 
cials, the  Journal  said,  "rests  almost  entirely  on  documents 
over  their  own  signatures,  and  this  is  particularly  true  in  the 
case  of  Baron  Zwiedinek  himself. 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       187 

A  rumor  having  been  set  afloat  that  because  of  the  failure  of 
the  Department  of  Justice  to  get  wind  of  the  activities  of  the 
consuls,  and  the  country-wide  plots  to  destroy  ammunition 
works,  the  Secret  Service  force  of  the  Treasury  Department 
would  take  charge  of  such  investigations,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  Attorney  General  thought  it  wise  to  make  a 
joint  denial  and  on  November  19  made  this  statement: 

"In  view  of  the  widespread  statements  to  the  effect  that 
the  Secret  Service  force  of  the  Treasury  Department  has  been 
put  in  charge  of  investigation  of  all  bomb  plots,  ship  burnings, 
munition  factory  explosions  and  the  like,  and  the  determina- 
tion of  whether  the  criminal  statutes  of  the  United  States  have 
been  violated,"  they  wished  to  say  that  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  Government  had  been  and  were  furnishing  each 
other  with  all  information  that  was  useful;  that  there  was  no 
disagreement  between  them,  and  none  expected;  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  of  the  Department  of 
Justice  to  investigate  all  information  indicating  violations  of 
criminal  statutes  of  the  United  States,  conspiracies,  passport 
frauds  and  violation  of  interstate  commerce  statutes  included; 
and  that  the  Secret  Service  of  the  Treasury  Department  had 
been  instructed  to  turn  over  to  the  Bureau  for  Investigation  of 
the  Department  of  Justice  any  information  acquired  by  the 
former  that  would  be  of  use  to  the  latter. 

Whether  Federal  statutes  could  be  applied  to  the  burning 
of  munition  plants  owned  by  individuals  or  corporations  was 
a  doubtful  question,  and  some  suspicion  was  expressed  by 
officials  in  the  Department  of  Justice  that  State  officials  had 
started  no  prosecutions  as  a  result  of  munition  plant  fires.  It 
was  time,  however,  that  the  government  acted.  Actual  war- 
fare had  been  conducted  by  German  and  Austrian  officials 
against  the  United  States.  Guns  hadjiot  been  trained  on  our 
citizens,  armies  had  not  been  landed  on  our  shores,  but  the 
torch  had  been  set  to  munition  plants,  bombs  had  been  pre- 
pared to  sink  ships  at  sea,  plots  had  been  hatched  to  prevent 
manufactured  goods  reaching  their  destination,  passports  for 
German  and  Austrian  spies  had  been  forged,  and  strikes 
fomented.  Plotters,  conspirators,  schemers  must  be  ferreted 
out,  no  matter  who  they  were.  But  in  punishing  plotters 


188     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

against  manufacturing  plants  the  Federal  Government  was 
badly  handicapped.  If  bombs  are  made  in  one  State  and  sent 
into  another  for  criminal  purposes  the  Government  has  juris- 
diction under  the  interstate  commerce  act.  But  when  an  indus- 
trial plant  is  set  on  fire  the  State  has  jurisdiction  and  must  act. 

To  overcome  this  difficulty  the  United  States  Attorney 
General,  on  November  20,  issued  an  appeal  to  local  authorities. 

"(Information,"  he  said,  "indicating  attacks  upon  lawful 
American  industries  and  commerce  through  incendiary  fires 
and  explosions  in  factories,  threats  to  intimidate  employees 
and  other  acts  of  violence,  has  so  often  developed  during  the 
past  few  months  as  to  demand  searching  investigations  and 
prosecutions."  The  Department  of  Justice  would  continue 
to  investigate  all  such  acts,  prosecute  all  violations  of  Federal 
statutes,  and  seek  indictments  under  the  Federal  law  forbid- 
ding interstate  transportation  of  explosives,  under  the  Sherman 
law,  the  law  concerning  conspiracy  to  commit  an  offense 
against,  or  defraud  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  against 
crimes  on  ships  and  on  the  high  seas.  But  Federal  criminal 
laws  because  of  our  dual  form  of  government  were  limited 
in  their  scope.  Many  could  be  enforced  only  where  the  Gov- 
ernment has  special  jurisdiction.  It  was  hoped,  therefore, 
that  the  State  officials  would  be  active,  and  whenever  evidence 
was  found,  by  the  agents  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  that 
State  laws  had  been  violated,  it  would  be  placed  at  the  service 
of  State  authorities. 

Prosecutions  of  such  offenders  as  the  Government  had  been 
able  to  detect  went  on,  meantime,  with  vigor.  Chief  among 
these  were  Captain  von  Papen  and  Captain  Boy-Ed. 

Captain  Franz  von  Papen  was  right  in  his  surmise  when 
he  wrote  his  wife,  "It  seems  quite  likely  that  we  shall  meet 
again  soon."  A  careful  investigation  of  the  activities  of 
von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed  forced  the  Secretary  of  State  to  inform 
Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  on  November  30  that  they  were 
"no  longer  acceptable  or  personce  gratce  to  this  Government," 
and  to  ask  their  recall  because  "of  what  this  Government  con- 
siders improper  activities  in  military  and  naval  matters." 

The  Providence  Journal  now  asserted,  basing  its  assertion 
"on  the  highest  authority,  that  the  recent  Hamburg-American 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       189 

trial  had  nothing  whatever  to  do"  with  the  demand  for  the 
recall  of  the  Captains.  Captain  Boy-Ed  was  recalled,  it  said, 
because  the  Government  had  positive  proof  of  his  connection 
with  Stegler  and  the  passport  frauds.  A  mass  of  letters  and 
telegrams  showing  his  direct  connection  with  the  frauds  was 
in  the  possession  of  the  Government.  He  was  recalled  because 
the  Government  had  positive  evidence  that  he  had  been  active 
in  the  attempt  of  certain  officials  of  the  Hamburg-American 
Company  in  the  spring  "to  embroil  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  and  the  British  Government  by  the  production 
of  false  affidavits  tending  to  show  that  certain  tugboat  captains 
had  been  carrying  supplies  from  New  York  Harbor  to  Ger- 
man cruisers.  He  had  been  recalled  because  the  Government 
had  conclusive  proof  that  the  Huerta  conspiracy,  hatched  in 
Barcelona,  was  carried  on  through  Captains  Boy-Ed  and 
von  Papen  and  Dr.  Dumba. 

Captain  von  Papen  would  be  recalled  because  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  Huerta  plot,  the  storage  of  large  quantities 
of  arms  in  New  York  and  the  discovery  among  the  Archibald 
papers  of  two  cipher  dispatches  and  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  sent  abroad. 

December  10,  the  German  Ambassador  formally  notified 
the  Secretary  of  State  that  the  Emperor  "had  been  pleased  to 
recall  Captain  Boy-Ed  and  Captain  von  Papen  in  compliance 
with  the  wishes  of  the  United  States  Government";  Decem- 
ber 22,  Captain  von  Papen  sailed,  and  six  days  later  was  fol- 
lowed by  Captain  Karl  Boy-Ed. 

When  about  to  sail  von  Papen  handed  to  representatives  of 
the  press  a  written  statement.  He  refrained,  he  said,  at  the 
hour  of  his  departure,  from  again  refuting  the  stories  told  about 
him  in  the  newspapers,  most  of  which  stories,  "like  the  silly 
Huerta  tales,"  were  invented  by  the  Providence  Journal.  This 
paper,  with  its  British-born  Mr.  Kathom,  has  done  its  utmost 
to  create  an  almost  hysterical  suspicion  of  spying  throughout 
the  country  in  order  to  prejudice  public  opinion  against 
Germany." 

"Your  farewell  statement  to  the  American  people,"  said 
the  Providence  Journal  in  a  long  wireless  to  the  Captain,  "in 
so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  Providence  Journal,  is  a  willful  and 


190     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  W.ORLD  WAR 

deliberate  falsehood.  Has  the  Providence  Journal  created  a 
hysterical  suspicion  concerning  the  destruction  of  American 
factories,  the  murder  of  American  workmen,  or  the  daily  plots 
against  the  peace  and  safety  of  this  Government  and  its  citi- 
zens, almost  all  of  which  acts  have  been  fathered  and  financed 
from  your  office  ?  Every  word  of  what  the  Journal  has  pub- 
lished with  regard  to  your  personal  connection  with  these  plots 
has  been  true,  and  nobody  knows  it  better  than  yourself." 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  East  that  such  deeds  had  been 
done.  Agents  of  Germany  had  been  busy  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
falsifying  manifests  to  clear  ships  laden  with  supplies  for 
German  cruisers,  plotting  the  destruction  of  bridges  and  tun- 
nels in  Canada,  and  hiring  men  to  place  bombs  on  board  of 
ships  carrying  munitions  of  war.  In  December,  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, Charles  C.  Crowley,  a  detective  in  the  employ  of  the 
German  consulate,  Baron  George  William  von  Brincken,  the 
Vice  Consul  General,  and  a  woman  were  indicted  for  con- 
spiracy to  interfere  with  and  destroy  commerce  with  the  Allies, 
and  use  the  mails  to  incite  arson,  murder  and  assassination  by 
burning  certain  buildings  of  munition  making  firms  at  (Ishpe- 
ming,  Michigan,  and  Pinole,  California.  An  affidavit,  pub- 
lished in  the  Providence  Journal,  set  forth  that  Franz  Bopp, 
the  German  Consul  General  at  San  Francisco,  had  employed 
the  affiant  Koolbergen  to  blow  up  tunnels  on  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway,  that  Bopp  and  von  Brincken  worked  out  the 
details,  and  that  Koolbergen  in  collusion  with  the  officials  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Company  caused  statements  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers  to  the  effect  that  they  had  been 
blown  up  mysteriously.  More  arrests  followed  as  the  plot 
developed  until  in  February,  ,1916,  thirty-two  conspirators 
were  indicted  by  a  Federal  Grand  Jury. 

A  telegram  from  Chicago,  December  5,  announced  that  two 
artisans  of  that  city  had  gone  to  New  York  in  obedience  to  a 
subpoena  to  appear  before  a  Federal  Grand  Jury  and  testify 
as  to  the  activities  of  Labor's  National  Peace  Council.  This 
organization,  it  was  said,  had  taken  a  part  in  the  warfare 
headed  by  von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed  against  munition  plants,  and 
the  Department  of  Justice  was  seeking  indictments  against 
Congressman  Buchanan  of  Illinois;  former  Congressman  Fow- 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       191 

ler  of  Illinois;  the  notorious  "Wolf  of  Wall  Street,"  David 
Lamar ;  Franz  von  Rintelen,  and  sundry  others. 

"In  view,"  said  the  United  States  Attorney  at  New  York, 
"of  the  publicity  given  in  the  morning  newspapers  of  to-day 
of  the  story  concerning  Labor's  National  Peace  Council,  I  will 
state  that  for  some  time  I  have  had  information  that  this 
organization  was  financed  through  money  furnished  by  Franz 
von  Rintelen,  through  David  Lamar.  A  part  of  the  activities 
of  Labor's  National  Peace  Council  consisted  in  stirring  up 
strikes  in  various  plants  which  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
war  munitions." 

Franz  von  Rintelen  came  to  our  country  in  April,  was 
believed  to  have  financed  the  so-called  "peace  meeting"  held 
in  June  in  New  York,  the  meeting  addressed  by  Mr.  Bryan, 
and  on  his  way  to  Germany  in  August  under  the  protection  of 
a  passport,  obtained  by  fraud,  was  stopped  at  Falmouth  by 
the  British  and  lodged  in  the  Tower  of  London.  Labor's  Na- 
tional Peace  Council  was  formed  late  in  June  by  the  promoters 
of  the  "peace  meeting"  at  New  York.  Its  President  for  a 
few  weeks  was  Congressman  Buchanan.  H.  Robert  Fowler 
was  its  general  counsel,  and  Frank  S.  Monnett,  one  time  Attor- 
ney General  of  Ohio,  was  Chairman  of  a  Committee.  These 
men,  with  Henry  B.  Martin,  Secretary,  Henry  Schulteis,  David 
Lamar,  and  Franz  von  Rintelen,  were  duly  indicted  on  De- 
cember 28,  1915. 

The  defendants,  it  was  charged,  had  "conspired  together  to 
restrain  our  foreign  commerce  in  munitions  of  war,"  rifles, 
vehicles  of  transportation,  building  material,  articles  of  many 
sorts  useful  in  war  on  land  and  sea;  had  conspired  to  insti- 
gate strikes  and  walkouts  in  munition  factories,  and  in  places 
where  such  material  was  shipped;  and  by  bribing  and  dis- 
tributing money  among  labor  officials,  tried  to  induce  them  to 
use  their  influence  to  cause  employees  to  drop  their  work. 

Efforts  were  now  made  to  secure  the  support  of  organized 
labor,  on  their  behalf,  and  on  December  30  a  statement  was 
issued  warning  laboring  men  of  the  "great  danger  which  awaits 
their  future  struggles  for  economic  liberty  and  justice  should 
a  precedent  be  established  by  the  courts  in  upholding  a  prose- 
cution and  conviction  under  such  a  construction  of  this  stat- 


192     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ute  as  is  now  proposed  by  the  Ignited  States  Attorney  Marshal." 
These  and  many  other  acts  of  treachery  by  aliens  and  dis- 
loyal citizens  of  alien  birth  were  so  serious  and  menacing  that 
President  Wilson  on  two  occasions  had  denounced  the  hyphen- 
ates roundly.  The  first  occasion  was  on  the  evening  of  Novem- 
ber 4  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  Manhattan  Club  in  New  York 
City. 

The  only  thing  within  our  borders  that  has  given  us  grave  con- 
cern in  recent  months  has  been  that  voices  have  been  raised  in  Amer- 
ica professing  to  be  the  voices  of  Americans  which  were  not  in  deed 
and  in  truth  American  but  which  spoke  alien  sympathies,  which 
came  from  men  who  loved  other  countries  better  than  they  love 
America,  men  who  were  partisans  of  other  causes  than  that  of  Amer- 
ica, and  had  forgotten  that  their  chief  and  only  allegiance  was  to 
the  great  government  under  which  they  live. 

These  voices  have  not  been  many,  but  they  have  been  very 
clamorous.  They  have  proceeded  from  a  few  who  were  bitter  and 
who  were  grievously  misled  [They  were]  the  spokesmen  of  small 
groups  wbom  it  is  high  time  that  the  nation  should  call  to  a  reck- 
oning. 

A  month  now  passed  away  and  on  December  7  the  President 
made  his  annual  address  to  Congress.  During  that  month  fires 
had  destroyed  shops  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  of  the 
Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  at  Eddystone,  and  of  the  Roebling 
Wire  Works  at  Trenton;  Goricar  had  made  known  the  plots 
of  the  Austrian  Consuls  to  destroy  ships  and  cripple  munition 
works,  and  the  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States  had  ap- 
pealed to  the  State  authorities  to  aid  him  in  prosecuting  the 
plotters  everywhere. 

In  his  annual  address  to  Congress  at  the  opening  of  its  ses- 
sion the  President,  therefore,  again  denounced  the  hyphenates 
and  asked  for  means  to  restrain  their  activities. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  gravest  threats  against  our  national 
peace  and  safety  have  been  uttered  within  our  own  borders.  There 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  I  blush  to  admit,  born  under  other 
flags,  but  welcomed  under  our  generous  naturalization  laws  to  the 
full  freedom  and  opportunity  of  America,  who  have  poured  the  poison 
of  disloyalty  into  the  very  arteries  of  our  national  life;  who  have 
sought  to  bring  the  authority  and  good  name  of  our  Government 
into  contempt,  to  destroy  our  industries  wherever  they  thought  it 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS      193 

effective  for  their  vindictive  purposes  to  strike  at  them  and  to  debase 
our  politics  to  the  uses  of  foreign  intrigue.  Their  number  is  not  as 
great  as  compared  with  the  whole  number  of  those  sturdy  hosts  by 
which  our  nation  has  been  enriched  in  recent  generations  out  of  virile 
foreign  stocks;  but  is  great  enough  to  have  brought  deep  disgrace 
upon  us  and  to  have  made  it  necessary  that  we  should  promptly  make 
use  of  processes  of  law  by  which  we  may  be  purged  of  their  corrupt 
distempers. 

America  never  witnessed  anything  like  this  before.  It  never 
dreamed  it  possible  that  men  sworn  into  its  own  citizenship  .  .  . 
would  ever  turn  in  malign  reaction  against  the  Government  and  peo- 
ple who  had  welcomed  and  nurtured  them  and  seek  to  make  this  proud 
country  once  more  a  hotbed  of  European  passion. 

A  little  while  ago  such  a  thing  would  have  seemed  incredible.  Be- 
cause it  was  incredible  we  made  no  preparation  for  it.  ...  But  the 
ugly  and  incredible  thing  has  actually  come  about  and  we  are  with- 
out adequate  Federal  laws  to  deal  with  it. 

I  urge  you  to  enact  such  laws  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  and 
feel  that  in  doing  so  I  am  urging  you  to  do  nothing  less  than  save  the 
honor  and  self-respect  of  the  nation.  Such  creatures  of  passion, 
disloyalty  and  anarchy  must  be  crushed  out.  They  are  not  many, 
but  they  are  infinitely  malignant,  and  the  hand  of  our  power  should 
close  over  them  at  once.  They  have  formed  plots  to  destroy  prop- 
erty ;  they  have  entered  into  conspiracies  against  the  neutrality  of  the 
Government;  they  have  sought  to  pry  into  every  confidential  transac- 
tion of  the  Government  in  order  to  serve  interests  alien  to  our 
own.  .  .  . 

I  wish  that  it  could  be  said  that  only  a  few  men,  misled  by  mis- 
taken sentiments  of  allegiance  to  the  governments  under  which  they 
were  born,  had  been  guilty  of  disturbing  the  self-possession  and 
misrepresenting  the  temper  and  principles  of  the  country  during 
these  days  of  terrible  war.  .  .  .  But  it  cannot.  There  are  some  men 
among  us,  and  many  resident  abroad  who,  though  born  and  bred  in 
the  United  States  and  calling  themselves  Americans,  have  so  for- 
gotten themselves  and  their  honor  as  citizens  as  to  put  their  passionate 
sympathy  with  one  or  the  other  side  in  the  great  European  conflict 
above  their  regard  for  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United  States. 
They  also  preach  and  practice  disloyalty. 

These  charges  met  with  a  quick  response  from  those  con- 
cerned. In  the  House  a  resolution  was  carried  calling  on  the 
President  to  furnish  the  names  and  former  allegiance  of  per- 
sons involved  in  alleged  criminal  and  otherwise  unneutral  plots 
together  with  specific  information  regarding  such  plots.  The 
Committee  on  Judiciary  reported  the  resolution  adversely.  The 


194     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Attorney  General  by  a  second  resolution  was  then  called  on  to 
furnish  the  names  and  former  allegiance  of  persons  involved 
in  alleged  criminal  plots.  He  sent  a  list  of  names  of  71  per- 
sons and  four  corporations ;  but  the  Judiciary  Committee  again 
reported  adversely. 

A  week  later  the  directors  of  the  Northeastern  Saenger- 
bund,  happening  to  hold  their  meeting  at  Baltimore,  took  oc- 
casion to  express  their  sentiments  towards  the  President  and 
certain  measures  then  pending  in  Congress.  Whereas,  they 
said,  the  President  having  by  "innuendo  in  his  message"  of  De- 
cember, 1915,  "accused  American  citizens  of  German  birth  of 
being  traitors  to  their  adopted  country,"  and  the  Attorney  Gen- 
eral in  response  to  a  call  by  the  House  "for  a  probe  of  these  al- 
legations" having  "submitted  a  list  of  the  persons  arrested  or 
charged  with  offenses  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States" 
referred  to  by  the  President,  and  there  appearing  in  the  list 
the  names  of  but  three  or  four  American  citizens  of  German 
birth,  therefore  it  was  resolved  that,  as  American  citizens,  they 
protest  against  the  charges  of  the  President  in  his  message 
as  an  attack  upon  and  an  insult  to  "a  large  and  loyal  part  of  the 
citizenship  of  the  United  States."  The  "attack  and  charges" 
were  "made  upon  insufficient  information  without  cause,  and,  as 
shown  by  the  Attorney  General's  report  had  no  foundation  in 
fact." 

The  directors  therefore  recommended  the  members  of  the 
Saengerbund  to  oppose  the  renomination  and  re-election  of 
Woodrow  Wilson  as  President  of  the  United  States,  and  en- 
dorsed and  urged  all  members  to  endorse  the  bills  to  prohibit 
the  sale  and  export  of  arms ;  prohibit  the  issue  of  passports  for 
use  on  vessels  of  a  belligerent  country;  prohibit  vessels  from 
carrying  American  citizens  as  passengers  and  contraband  of 
war  at  the  same  time;  and  the  bill  to  authorize  the  President 
to  forbid  any  national  banking  association  to  make  a  loan  to  any 
of  the  signatory  Powers  to  the  Declaration  of  London  which 
shall  be  found  to  be  obstructing  the  neutral'  commerce  of  the 
United  States. 

To  a  mass  meeting  of  Hungarians  held  at  New  York  City 
about  the  same  time  to  take  action  on  the  President's  remarks 
he  sent  a  message  through  a  personal  representative. 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS      1Q5 

In  good  time  the  speech  of  the  President  reached  Berlin, 
alarmed  the  Imperial  Government  by  the  vigor  of  the  attack  on 
German-American  plotters  and  drew  forth  a  disavowal  of  the 
acts  of  its  agents  and  a  plea  that  Germany  had  been  misunder- 
stood. No  official  note  or  memorandum  was  sent  to  Washing- 
ton, but  the  Berlin  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times  was 
authorized  to  make  a  long  statement  which  he  sent  by  wireless 
on  December  29.  "I  am  authorized,"  said  the  correspondent, 
Mr.  Garrett,  "to  make  the  following  statement": 

The  German  Government,  naturally,  has  never  knowingly 
accepted  the  support  of  any  person,  group  of  persons,  society 
or  organization  seeking  to  promote  the  cause  of  Germany  in  the 
United  States  by  illegal  acts,  by  counsels  of  violence,  by  con- 
travention of  law,  or  by  any  means  whatever  that  could  offend 
the  American  people  in  the  pride  of  their  own  authority.  If  it 
should  be  alleged  that  improper  acts  have  been  committed  by 
representatives  of  the  German  Government  they  could  easily  be 
dealt  with.  To  any  complaints,  upon  such  proofs  as  may  be 
submitted  by  the  American  Government,  suitable  response  will 
be  duly  made. 

As  is  well  known,  the  means  of  communication  between 
Germany  and  the  United  States  are  very  unsatisfactory.  It  is 
practically  impossible  for  the  German  Government  to  keep  it- 
self in  touch  with  the  American  sentiment.  It  has  often  to  de- 
pend upon  the  Foreign  Press  for  information  concerning 
American  affairs.  The  Message  of  President  Wilson  to  the 
Congress,  in  which  the  activities  of  German  sympathizers  in 
the  United  States  were  discussed,  will  serve  as  an  illustration. 

A  brief  summary  of  this  Message  which  was  received  in  Ger- 
many referred  to  riots  and  conspiracies  against  peace  and  or- 
der in  the  United  States,  and  the  effect  produced  thereby  on  the 
public  sentiment  in  Germany  was  probably  more  painful  than 
the  American  Government  knew.  A  different  impression  might 
have  been  produced  by  the  full  text  of  the  Message,  but,  un- 
fortunately, that  was  not  available  in  Germany  until  the  Ameri- 
can newspapers  arrived  in  Germany  by  mail  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks  later,  except  such  portions  as  might  be  taken,  with  doubt 
and  reservations,  from  the  English  Press. 

In  the  meantime  confidential  communications  between  the 


196     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

German  Government  and  its  diplomatic  representatives  in  the 
United  States,  by  wireless  or  cable,  are  impossible  for  reasons 
which  the  American  Government  knows. 

Apparently  the  enemies  of  Germany  have  succeeded  in  giv- 
ing the  impression  that  the  German  Government  is  in  some  way, 
Mr.  Garrett  continued,  responsible  for  what  Mr.  Wilson  has 
characterized  as  anti-American  activities,  comprising  attacks  on 
property  and  the  violation  of  the  rules  which  the  American 
Government  has  seen  fit  to  impose  on  the  course  of  neutral 
trade.  This  the  German  Government  absolutely  denies.  It 
cannot  specifically  repudiate  acts  committed  by  individuals  over 
whom  it  has  no  control,  and  of  whose  movements  and  actions  it 
is  neither  officially  nor  unofficially  informed.  It  can  only  say 
it  does  most  emphatically  declare  to  Germans  abroad,  to  the 
United  States  and  to  the  American  people  all  alike,  that  who- 
ever is  guilty  of  conduct  tending  to  associate  the  German  cause 
with  lawlessness  in  thought,  suggestion,  or  deed  against  the 
life,  property,  and  order  in  the  United  States  is,  in  fact,  an 
enemy  of  that  very  cause,  and  a  source  of  embarrassment  to  the 
German  Government,  nothwithstanding  anything  he  or  they 
may  believe  to  the  contrary. 

It  happens  regularly  that  Press  messages  from  Germany  are 
taken  from  the  air  by  the  English  and  are  reproduced  as  rep- 
resenting the  official  German  point  of  view,  the  assumption  be- 
ing that  the  German  censor  will  only  pass  such  things  as  the 
German  Government  wishes  the  world  to  believe.  Finally,  ow- 
ing to  these  conditions,  all  German  expression  of  opinion  falls 
under  an  awkward  restraint.  <If  the  German  Government  could 
speak,  and  alone,  to  the  American  Government,  out  of  the  hear- 
ing of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  if  it  could  communicate  con- 
fidentially with  its  diplomatic  representatives  in  the  United 
States,  much  misconception,  Mr.  Garrett  was  sure,  could  be 
avoided.  By  the  use  of  wireless,  it  is  true,  the  German  Govern- 
ment may  communicate  with  its  Ambassador  in  Washington  in 
a  private  code  known  only  to  the  American  Government;  but, 
as  all  other  Governments  may  communicate  by  cable  in  an  ab- 
solutely secret  code,  the  German  Government  feels  that  to  be 
alone  deprived  of  this  same  privilege,  and  to  be  required,  as 
no  other  Government  is,  to  correspond  with  its  representatives 


TREACHEROUS  ACTS  OF  GERMAN  OFFICIALS       197 

in  a  code  open  to  the  American  Government,  is  an  unfair  dis- 
crimination. This,  therefore,  is  an  obstacle  that  combines  both 
fact  and  feeling,  and  if  one  adds  thereto  the  misfortune  that  the 
German  Government  thinks  it  has  reason  to  distrust  the  neu- 
trality of  the  United  States,  it  will  be  seen  how  serious  it  is.  We 
need  not  inquire  whether  the  German  Government  is  justified 
in  regarding  American  neutrality  with  reservation.  The  doubt 
exists,  and  hinders  every  approach  to  an  understanding. 

The  reason  for  denying  the  German  Government  the  privi- 
lege of  using  a  secret  code  by  wireless  was,  in  the  beginning, 
that  it  might  communicate  in  this  way  with  its  ships  at  sea, 
but  the  German  Government  thinks  that  if  this  reason  were  ever 
valid  it  has  ceased  to  exist,  since  there  are  no  more  German 
ships  upon  the  seas. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING 

THE  Imperial  German  Government  having  inquired  into 
the  circumstances  of  the  sinking  of  the  Arabic,  and  having  ob- 
tained a  report  from  the  commander  of  the  submarine  from 
which  the  torpedo  was  fired,  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  de- 
livered to  the  Secretary  of  State  a  note  in  which  Germany  re- 
fused "to  acknowledge  any  obligation  or  grant  any  indemnity  in 
the  matter." 

On  August  19,  1915,  it  said,  a  German  submarine  stopped 
the  British  liner  Dunsley  about  sixteen  miles  south  of  Kinsale, 
and  was  about  to  sink  her  by  gun  fire  when  the  commander  be- 
held a  large  steamship  making  towards  him.  This  steamer,  the 
Arabic,  was  recognized  as  an  enemy  vessel  because  she  did  not 
fly  any  flag  and  had  no  neutral  markings.  "When  she  ap- 
proached she  altered  her  original  course,  but  then  again  pointed 
directly  towards  the  submarine."  Sure  that  the  Arabic  "had 
the  intention  of  attacking  and  ramming  him,"  the  commander 
gave  the  order  "to  dive  and  fired  a  torpedo  at  the  steamship." 

"The  German  Government  most  deeply  regrets  that  lives 
were  lost,"  and  "particularly  expresses  this  regret  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  on  account  of  the  death  of 
American  citizens."  But  "the  German  Government  is  unable, 
however,  to  acknowledge  any  obligation  to  grant  indemnity  in 
the  matter,  even  if  the  commander  should  have  been  mistaken 
as  to  the  aggressive  intentions  of  the  Arabic."  Should  the  two 
Governments  find  it  impossible  "to  reach  a  harmonious  opinion 
on  this  point"  the  German  Government  was  ready  "to  submit 
the  difference  of  opinion,  as  being  a  question  of  international 
law,  to  The  Hague  tribunal."  In  doing  so,  the  German  Govern- 
ment assumed  "that,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  arbitral  deci- 
sion shall  not  be  admitted  to  have  the  importance  of  a  general 

198 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  199 

decision  on  the  permissibility  of,  or  the  converse,  under  in- 
ternational law,  of  German  submarine  warfare." 

Thus  was  the  hope  that  the  commander  of  the  submarine 
would  be  disciplined  and  his  act  disavowed,  dispelled.  But 
the  German  Ambassador  after  conferences  with  the  Secretary 
o'f  State  declared  in  an  interview  that  he  was  sure  all  differ- 
ences would  soon  be  adjusted.  "Ordinarily,"  he  said,  "I  give 
only  prepared  interviews  over  my  signature.  To-day  I  shall 
make  an  exception.  You  may  say  for  me  that  I  am  sure  that 
within  a  fortnight  all  supposed  difficulties  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany  will  have  been  settled  and  permanently  set- 
tled, and  the  nations  will  be  more  friendly  than  they  ever  have 
been." 

A  Berlin  newspaper,  the  National  Gazette,  remarked  that 
"for  the  moment  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  recognized  with 
sufficient  clearness  in  America  that  Count  von  BernstorfPs 
principal  statement  and  the  Arabic  note  are  two  totally  differ- 
ent expressions  of  intention  on  the  part  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment and  only  superficially  connected." 

The  destruction  of  the  Arabic  was  "in  no  sense  a  diminish- 
ing of  assurances  given  shortly  before  in  Washington,  and 
which  were  hailed  with  lively  satisfaction  in  America,  show- 
ing the  wish  of  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  American 
people  to  maintain  peace  between  Germany  and  America. 
There  can  be  no  talk  about  Germany  having  broken  her  word 
to  the  United  States,  or  of  trying  to  liberate  herself  from  a 
given  promise." 

The  Imperial  Government  having  denied  responsibility  for 
indemnity  in  the  case  of  the  Arabic  now  returned  to  that  of  the 
Frye;  and  to  the  manner  of  fixing  the  damages.  It  proposed  to 
do  away  with  an  umpire,  settle  the  damages  by  means  of  two  ex- 
perts, and  name  its  own  expert,  agreed  to  separate  the  question 
of  indemnity  from  that  of  interpretation  of  the  Prussian  treaties 
of  1799  and  1828,  and  to  refer  this  dispute  to  The  Hague  Tri- 
bunal. 

To  the  question,  whether  in  the  meantime,  Germany  would 
govern  her  submarine  operations  according  to  the  American  or 
the  German  interpretation,  the  answer  was,  that  "it  is  not  pre- 
vented, in  its  opinion,  from  proceeding  against  American  ships 


200     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

conveying  contraband,  according  to  its  interpretation,  until  the 
question  is  settled  by  arbitration."  Nevertheless,  as  evidence 
of  its  "conciliatory  attitude"  the  German  Government  had  or- 
dered its  naval  forces  "not  to  destroy  American  merchantmen 
which  have  loaded  conditional  contraband,"  but  allow  "them  to 
continue  their  voyage  unhindered,  if  it  is  not  possible  to  take 
them  into  port."  But  it  reserved  "the  right  to  destroy  vessels 
carrying  absolute  contraband"  whenever  allowable  under  the 
Declaration  of  London. 

In  its  note  on  the  Arabic  the  German  Government  had  de- 
clared itself  unable  "to  acknowledge  any  obligation  to  grant 
indemnity  in  the  matter  even  if  the  commander  should  have 
been  mistaken  as  to  the  aggressive  intentions  of  the  Arabic." 
From  this  position  the  Imperial  Government  now  retreated  and 
on  October  5,  Count  von  Bernstorff  informed  Secretary  Lansing 
that,  prompted  by  a  desire  to  reach  a  satisfactory  agreement 
with  respect  to  the  Arabic  incident,  his  Government  had  in- 
structed him  to  say  His  Imperial  Majesty  had  issued  such 
stringent  orders  "that  the  recurrence  of  incidents  similar  to  the 
Arabic  case  is  considered  out  of  the  question. 

"According  to  the  report  of  Commander  Schneider  of  the 
submarine  which  sank  the  Arabic  and  his  affidavit  as  well  as 
those  of  his  men,  Commander  Schneider  was  convinced  that 
the  Arabic  intended  to  ram  the  submarine. 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  Imperial  Government  does  not 
doubt  the  good  faith  of  the  affidavits  of  the  British  officers  of 
the  Arabic,  according  to  which  the  Arabic  did  not  intend  to 
ram  the  submarine.  The  attack  of  the  submarine,  therefore, 
was  undertaken  against  the  instructions  issued  to  the  com- 
mander. The  Imperial  Government  regrets  and  disavows  this 
act,  and  has  notified  Commander  Schneider  accordingly,"  and 
would  pay  indemnity  for  the  lives  of  Americans  lost  on  the 
Arabic. 

Before  the  month  ended,  Germany,  in  a  note  explaining 
the  attack  on  the  Orduna,  renewed  her  pledge  that  large  pas- 
senger steamers  were  "only  to  be  torpedoed  after  previous  warn- 
ing and  after  the  rescuing  of  passengers  and  crew." 

At  about  a  quarter  past  seven  on  the  morning  of  July  3, 
said  the  note,  a  German  submarine  sighted  a  steamer  some 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  201 

five  miles  away  and  a  sailing  vessel  a  mile  distant.  The  steamer 
showing  no  flag  or  neutral  markings,  was  taken  to  be  an  enemy 
ship  and  the  submarine  submerged  and  fired  a  torpedo  which 
missed  its  mark.  Thereupon  the  submarine  rose  to  the  surface 
and  gave  chase,  firing  shells  which  did  no  harm  as  the  sub- 
marine was  pitching  about  and  the  distance  great. 

"The  first  attack  on  the  Orduna  was  not  in  accordance  with 
the  existing  instructions  which  provide  that  large  passenger 
steamships  are  only  to  be  torpedoed  after  previous  warning  and 
after  the  rescuing  of  passengers  and  crew.  The  failure  to  ob- 
serve the  instructions  was  based  on  an  error,  which  is  at  any 
rate  comprehensible,  and  the  repetition  of  which  appears  to  be 
out  of  the  question,  in  view  of  the  more  explicit  instructions  is- 
sued in  the  meantime." 

The  surrender  of  Germany  seemed  to  be  complete,  and  was 
generally  attributed  to  the  good  work  done  by  Ambassador  von 
Bernstorff.  The  triumph  of  American  diplomacy  seemed  to  be 
a  notable  one,  for  it  had  forced  an  arrogant  nation  to  abandon 
its  campaign  of  maritime  frightfulness  and  acknowledge  the 
principles  of  humanity  it  had  hitherto  defiantly  and  wantonly 
outraged.  But  the  triumph  was  not  to  endure.  From  sources 
good  and  reliable  it  appeared  that  Great  Britain  had  captured 
forty-four  German  submarines  and  had  sunk  some  twenty-six 
others.  Alarmed  at  her  losses  Germany  found  it  expedient  to 
suspend  her  campaign  of  frightfulness  not  only  until  her  losses 
had  been  made  good,  but  until  her  fleet  of  submarines  had  been 
greatly  increased.  Meantime,  to  avert  a  break  with  the  United 
States  at  that  time,  the  Imperial  Government  adopted  a  policy 
it  did  not  intend  long  to  pursue. 

Confining  its  operations  in  the  North  Sea  and  the  Channel 
to  raids,  the  German  Admiralty  now  sent  submarines  to  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  to  prey  on  transports  carrying  troops  to 
Salonika  and  Egypt,  while  Austria,  which  as  yet  had  done  lit- 
tle with  her  submarines,  turned  them  loose  on  neutrals  as  well 
as  enemy  merchantmen. 

Austria  had  made  no  promises  not  to  sink  ships  without 
warning,  or  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  passengers  and  crew. 
In  frightfulness,  therefore,  she  soon  equaled  her  ally  and 
quickly  brought  on  a  crisis  in  her  relations  with  us. 


202     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

On  ^November  7,  as  the  Italian  liner  Ancona,  with  400  pas- 
eengers  and  a  crew  of  170,  was  on  her  way  from  Messina  to 
New  York  she  was  torpedoed  off  Cape  Carbona  by  a  large  sub- 
marine flying  the  Austrian  flag.  About  midday,  according  to 
the  account  first  received  from  Ferryville,  Tunis,  the  Ancona 
perceived  two  submarines  which,  because  of  the  thick  fog,  the 
sound  of  her  whistle  and  her  reduced  speed,  were  able  to  ap- 
proach her  unperceived.  Rescued  passengers  declared  that 
when  first  seen  both  submarines  were  flying  the  German  flag 
which  was  quickly  lowered  and  replaced  by  that  of  Austria- 
Hungary. 

The  Ancona  attempted  to  escape  but  was  fired  upon  and 
hit,  whereupon  the  captain  ordered  the  boats  lowered  and  just 
as  the  eighth  touched  the  water  the  Ancona  pitched  forward 
and  sank  bows  first,  carrying  down  with  her  over  two  hundred 
human  beings,  many  of  whom  were  killed  by  gunfire  after 
the  torpedo  struck.  Of  twelve  Americans  aboard  nine  lost  their 
lives. 

A  telegram  from  Rome  announced  that  "a  submarine  ap- 
proached the  Ancona  towards  noon,  and  as  soon  as  the  steamer 
saw  it,  an  attempt  was  made  to  escape  at  full  speed.  The  An- 
cona was  overtaken  and  stopped.  Then  the  submarine  fired  on 
the  Ancona,  sinking  her  amid  the  desperate  cries  of  the  pas- 
sengers. The  life  boats  were  next  attacked,  the  submarine  like- 
wise firing  on  them." 

On  November  14,  1915,  the  Italian  Government  addressed 
a  circular  note  to  neutral  governments  giving  its  version  of  the 
attack.  The  submarine,  it  charged,  fired  on  the  Ancona  without 
warning;  fired  at  the  wireless  apparatus,  at  the  sides  and  decks 
and  "even  at  the  boats  in  which  the  terrorized  passengers  were 
seeking  refuge."  Some  who  fell  into  the  sea  and  approached 
the  submarine  "were  driven  off  with  jeers." 

That  same  day  the  Austro-Hungarian  Admiralty  Office 
made  a  statement  without  waiting  for  the  Foreign  Office  to 
act.  "The  submarine,"  it  said,  "fired  one  shot  in  front  of  the 
Ancona's  prow,  whereupon  the  steamer  fled  at  full  speed,  in 
accordance  with  the  order  issued  by  the  Italian  authorities, 
which  instructs  ships'  commanders  to  flee  or  sink  the  sub- 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  203 

marine,"  was  pursued  and  stopped  only  after  being  hit  several 
times. 

"The  submarine  allowed  45  minutes  for  the  passengers  and 
crew  to  abandon  the  steamer,  on  board  of  which  panic  reigned, 
but  only  a  small  number  of  boats  were  lowered  and  these  were 
occupied  principally  by  the  crew. 

"A  great  number  of  boats,  probably  sufficient  to  save  all 
the  passengers,  remained  unoccupied. 

"After  a  period  of  fifty  minutes,  and  as  another  steamer 
was  approaching,  the  submarine  submerged  and  torpedoed  the 
Ancona  which  sank  after  an  additional  45  minutes. 

"If  any  of  the  passengers  lost  their  lives,  this  was  due  to 
the  fault  of  the  crew,  because  the  steamer  tried  to  escape  after 
it  had  received  orders  to  stop  and  then  the  crew  only  saved 
themselves  and  not  the  passengers. 

"Reports  published  in  the  foreign  press  that  the  submarine 
fired  on  the  Ancona' s  life  boats  are  mendacious  inventions. 
When  the  steamer  stopped  the  submarine  ceased  firing." 

As  soon  as  the  text  of  the  Austrian  Admiralty's  statement 
was  received  all  doubt  as  to  the  nationality  of  the  submarine 
was  removed.  Rumors  that  it  was  really  a  German  vessel  were 
set  at  rest,  and  the  Secretary  was  free  to  call  Austria  to  account. 
Our  Ambassador  at  Vienna  was  therefore  furnished  with  a 
copy  of  the  Italian  note,  and  instructed  to  ask  whether  or  not 
the  Ancona  was  properly  warned  and  if  so  how  the  warning 
was  given.  Whether  or  not  the  Ancona  tried  to  escape,  after 
warning  shots  were  fired,  and  how  long  the  firing  continued. 
Whether  or  not  any  shots  were  fired  after  the  Ancona  settled,  and 
if,  as  the  Italian  note  asserted,  the  life  boats  were  shelled  while 
passengers  were  entering  them  or  after  the  boats  were  in  the 
water.  And  finally  whether  or  not  any  efforts  were  made  by 
the  submarine  commander  to  save  the  lives  of  the  noncom- 
batants,  and  if  not,  then  why  not. 

The  cable  to  Mr.  Penfield,  our  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  was 
passed  by  one  from  him  embodying  the  text  of  a  communica- 
tion from  the  Austrian  Foreign  Office.  This  official  statement 
differed  in  no  respect  from  that  issued  by  the  Admiralty. 

After  patiently  waiting  three  weeks  for  a  note  from  Austria 
and  receiving  none  the  Secretary  of  State,  on  December  6,  made 


204     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

a  demand  for  disavowal  and  reparation.  Reliable  information 
furnished  by  American  and  other  survivors,  passengers  on  the 
Aneona,  shows,  he  said,  that  on  November  7,  a  submarine  fly- 
ing the  Austro-Hungarian  flag  fired  a  solid  shot  towards  the 
Aneona,  that  she  attempted  to  escape,  was  chased,  overhauled 
and  stopped,  and  that  after  a  brief  period,  before  all  the  crew 
and  passengers  could  take  to  the  boats,  a  number  of  shells  were 
fired  at  her,  and  she  was  finally  torpedoed  and  sunk  while  many 
persons  were  still  aboard,  and  that  by  gunfire  and  foundering 
American  citizens  lost  their  lives. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  had  been  advised, 
through  the  correspondence  between  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many, of  the  attitude  of  the  United  States  "as  to  the  use  of  sub- 
marines in  attacking  vessels  of  commerce,  and  of  the  acqui- 
escence of  Germany  in  that  attitude;  yet,  with  full  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  of  the  views 
of  the  United  States  as  expressed  in  no  uncertain  terms  to  the 
Ally  of  Austria-Hungary,"  the  commander  of  the  submarine 
had  sunk  the  Aneona.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
considered  that  he  violated  the  principles  of  international  law 
and  humanity  by  shelling  and  torpedoing  her  before  those  on 
board  had  been  placed  in  safety.  His  conduct  could  "only  be 
characterized  as  wanton  slaughter  of  defenseless  noncom- 
batants."  As  good  relations  must  rest  on  a  common  regard  for 
the  laws  of  nations  and  humanity  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  could  not  "be  expected  to  do  otherwise  than  to  demand 
that  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  denounce  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Aneona  as  an  illegal  and  indefensible  act;  that  the 
officer  who  perpetrated  the  deed  be  punished,  and  that  repara- 
tion be  made  for  American  citizens  killed  or  injured  by  the 
attack." 

*  The  Government  of  the  United  States  expected  Austria  to 
"accede  to  its  demand  promptly,  and  it  rests  this  expectation  on 
the  belief  that  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  will  not  sanc- 
tion or  defend  an  act  which  is  condemned  by  the  world  as  in- 
human and  barbarous,  which  is  abhorrent  to  all  civilized  na- 
tions, and  which  has  caused  the  death  of  innocent  American 
citizens." 

That  a  rupture  of  diplomatic  relations  would  follow  was 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  205 

thought  more  than  likely.  In  diplomacy,  it  was  said,  the  word 
"demand"  is  a  strong  one,  and  has  been  twice  used.  In  none  of 
the  notes  hitherto  addressed  to  any  of  the  belligerent  powers  has 
language  so  direct  and  menacing  appeared.  The  note  had  much 
the  character  of  an  ultimatum.  Austria  must  now  either  accept 
or  reject  what  is  demanded.  Which  will  she  do  ? 

One  London  newspaper  referred  to  the  note  as  "stern,  un- 
compromising." Another,  alluding  to  the  mildness  of  the 
Lusitania  note,  thought  that  to  Austria  "would  have  been  more 
impressive  had  it  been  addressed  to  the  Power  capable  of  in- 
juring the  United  States  instead  of  to  its  ally,  from  which  the 
United  States  has  nothing  to  fear."  A  third  remarked  that  the 
President's  description  of  the  outrage  and  his  demand  were 
"perfectly  justified;  but  would  not  both  have  been  even  more 
justified  in  the  Lusitania  case?  However,  one  may  congratu- 
late the  President  on  his  novel  vigor." 

Reports  from  abroad  set  forth  that  the  note  had  given  great 
offense  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government,  that  it  had 
aroused  intense  anger,  and  that  diplomatic  relations  were  soon 
to  be  broken;  that  Berlin  was  seeking  to  persuade  Vienna  to 
adjust  the  difficulty  and  that  a  high  personage  had  left  Berlin 
for  Vienna  "to  assist  in  making  the  Austrians  see  the  light." 

As  yet  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  did  not  see  the 
light,  but  still  sitting  in  darkness  replied  December  15,  1915, 
that  "the  sharpness  with  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  considers  it  necessary  to  blame  the  commanding  officer 
of  the  submarine  concerned  in  the  affair,  and  the  firmness  with 
which  the  demands  addressed  to  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment appear  to  be  expressed,  might  well  have  warranted  the 
expectation  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should 
precisely  specify  the  actual  circumstances  of  the  affair  upon 
which  it  bases  its  case. 

"As  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive,  the  presentation  of  the 
facts  in  the  case  in  the  aforesaid  note  leaves  room  for  many 
doubts."  But  even  if  the  presentation  were  correct  in  every 
respect,  it  did  not  "warrant  attaching  blame  to  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  war  vessel,  or  to  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment." 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  also  failed  to 


206     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

designate  the  persons  upon  whose  testimony  it  relies  and  to 
whom  it  apparently  believes  it  may  attribute  a  higher  degree 
of  credibility  than  to  the  commander  of  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  fleet.  The  note  also  fails  to  give  any  information  whatso- 
ever as  to  the  number,  names,  and  more  precise  fate  of  the 
American  citizens  who  were  on  board  of  the  said  steamer  at  the 
critical  moment. 

"However,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Washington  Cabinet 
has  now  made  a  positive  statement  to  the  effect  that  citizens  of 
the  United  States  of  America  came  to  grief  in  the  incident  in 
question,  the  ^Imperial  and  Royal  Government  is  in  principle 
ready  to  enter  into  an  exchange  of  views." 

It  must  however  "raise  the  question  why"  the  United 
States  failed  to  give  reasons  for  its  demands  in  "reference  to 
the  special  circumstances  of  the  incriminating  events  upon 
which  it  lays  stress,  and  why,  in  lieu  thereof,  it  referred  to  an 
exchange  of  correspondence  which  it  has  conducted  with  an- 
other Government  in  other  cases.  The  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  is  the  less  able  to  follow  the  Washington  Cabinet 
on  this  unusual  path,  since  it  by  no  means  possesses  authentic 
knowledge  of  all  the  pertinent  correspondence  of  the  United 
States  nor  is  it  of  the  opinion  that  such  knowledge  might  be 
sufficient  for  it  in  the  present  case,  which,  so  far  as  it  is  in- 
formed, is  in  essential  points  of  another  nature  than  the  case 
or  cases  to  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  seems 
to  allude.  The  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  may,  there- 
fore, leave  it  to  the  Washington  Cabinet  to  formulate  the  par- 
ticular points  of  law  against  which  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  submarine  is  alleged  to  have  offended  on  the  occasion  of 
the  sinking  of  the  Ancona. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  also  seen  fit  to 
refer  to  the  attitude  which  the  Berlin  Cabinet  assumed  in  the 
above  mentioned  correspondence.  The  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  find  in  the  much  esteemed  note  no  indication  what- 
ever of  the  intent  with  which  this  reference  was  made."  If, 
however,  the  United  States  "intended  to  express  an  opinion" 
that  a  precedent  was  thereby  created  for  the  guidance  of  the 
Imperial  and  Royal  Government  in  its  "judicial  consideration 
of  the  affair  in  question,  this  Government  must,  in  order  to 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  207 

preclude  possible  misunderstandings,  declare  that  as  a  matter 
of  course  it  reserves  to  itself  full  freedom  of  maintaining  its 
own  legal  views  in  the  discussion  of  the  case  of  the  Ancona." 

Secretary  Lansing  in  his  "esteemed  note"  demanded  that 
the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  denounce  the  sinking 
of  the  Ancona  as  an  illegal  and  indefensible  act;  that  the 
commander  of  the  submarine  be  punished ;  and  that  an  indem- 
nity be  paid  for  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  were 
killed  or  injured.  Not  one  of  them  was  answered. 

Baron  Burian,  said  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  a  Vienna 
journal,  "has  answered  the  uncouth  note  of  the  United  States 
with  careful  reserve.  The  White  House  at  Washington  is  not 
yet  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  whole  world  and  its  diction  is 
not  yet  the  verdict  good  for  all  time.  The  burden  of  proof 
rests  upon  the  accuser.  We  await  the  proofs." 

In  Berlin  the  note  was  hailed  with  delight.  "Something," 
the  Gazette  was  sure,  "has  happened,  only  we  don't  exactly  know 
what.  At  all  events,  in  a  very  polite  form  the  Austrian  Foreign 
Office  gives  a  receipt  for  Washington's  Very  esteemed  note.' 
The  contents  of  the  answer  can  be  briefly  summarized  as  'What's 
all  the  noise  about.' '  The  Kreuz  Zeitung  was  much  pleased 
at  "the  delicious  way"  in  which  Austria  had  imparted  some 
elementary  lessons  in  diplomatic  procedure  and  wondered  if 
the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  would  "accept  their  de- 
feat or  sever  diplomatic  relations."  The  Neueste  NacJirichten 
of  Munich,  thought  that  the  dignified  and  business  like  tone  of 
the  answer  offered  a  pleasant  contrast  "to  the  weakness  of  the 
reasoning  on  which  Washington  based  its  demands.  The 
American  Government  in  drafting  its  demands  left  itself  un- 
covered at  many  points,  but  the  diplomatic  armor  of  the  Aus- 
trian representative  has  not  a  weak  spot." 

The  London  press  ridiculed  the  note  as  a  careful  evasion  of 
the  demands  of  the  United  States,  an  insult  to  American  intel- 
ligence, "more  or  less  veiled  in  diplomatic  phraseology."  "Aus- 
tria's insolent  reply  to  U.  S.  A."  was  a  headline  in  one  news- 
paper. Another  pointed  out  "the  extraordinary  insolence  of  the 
Austrian  reply,"  and  was  sure  the  note  "could  not  have  been 
sent  without  Germany's  approval  for  nobody  seriously  doubts 


208     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

that  in  this  campaign,  as  in  all  the  rest  of  her  policy,  Austria 
is  the  subservient  tool  of  her  ally." 

From  the  Washington  headquarters  of  Labor's  National 
Peace  Council,  whose  activities  were  then  under  investigation 
by  a  Grand  Jury  at  New  York,  came  an  attack  on  the  Adminis- 
tration for  its  reported  action  in  the  Ancona  case.  The  Council 
was  "sternly  opposed  to  any  action  on  the  part  of  the  Ad- 
ministration which  in  secrecy  leads  or  tends  to  lead  this  country 
up  to  the  very  verge  of  war  with  any  country,  and  insists  that 
no  action  should  be  taken  by  the  State  Department  tending 
to  break  off  diplomatic  relations  with  any  nation  without  the 
full  knowledge  and  consent  of  Congress."  That  body,  it  said, 
"alone  has  the  power  to  declare  war,  and  any  action  on  the  part 
of  the  executive  which  involves  the  country  in  war  or  makes 
war  inevitable  is  not  only  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  Con- 
gress, but  of  the  whole  people  of  this  country,  and  a  direct  viola- 
tion of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

As  soon  as  possible,  on  December  19,  Mr.  Lansing  answered 
the  Austrian  note.  On  November  15,  he  said,  Baron  Zwie- 
dinek,  the  Austrian  charge  d' Affaires,  transmitted  a  report  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Admiralty  on  the  sinking  of  the  Ancona. 
In  this  report  it  was  admitted  that  the  Ancona  was  torpedoed 
after  her  engines  had  stopped  and  while  passengers  were  still 
on  board.  This  admission  was  sufficient  to  fix,  on  the  com- 
mander of  the  submarine,  "the  responsibility  for  having  will- 
fully violated  the  recognized  laws  of  nations,  and  entirely  dis- 
regarded those  humane  principles  which  every  belligerent  should 
observe  in  the  conduct  of  war  at  sea.  In  view  of  these  ad- 
mitted circumstances  the  Government  of  the  United  States  feels 
justified  in  holding  that  the  details  of  the  sinking  of  the 
Ancona,  the  weight  and  character  of  the  additional  testimony 
corroborating  the  Admiralty's  report,  and  the  number  of 
Americans  killed  or  injured  are  in  no  way  essential  matters  of 
discussion." 

The  rules  of  international  law  and  the  principles  of  hu- 
manity "thus  willfully  violated,"  were  so  manifest,  and  "so  long 
and  so  universally  recognized,"  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  "does  not  feel  called  upon  to  debate  them,"  nor 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  209 

did  it  understand  that  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  dis- 
puted them. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  therefore  finds  no 
other  course  open  to  it,  but  to  hold  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  responsible  for  the  act  of  its  naval  commander 
and  to  renew  the  definite  but  respectful  demands  made  in  its 
communication  of  the  sixth  of  December." 

And  now  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  in  its  turn 
surrendered  and  in  a  note  of  December  29  agreed  "with  the 
Washington  Cabinet  that  even  in  war  the  sacred  demands  of 
humanity  must  be  complied  with ;"  agreed  "that  hostile  private 
ships,  in  so  far  as  they  do  not  flee  or  offer  resistance,  may  not 
be  destroyed  without  the  persons  on  board  having  been  placed 
in  safety;"  announced  that  "the  officer  has  been  punished  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  in  force  in  this  matter,  for  exceed- 
ing his  instructions,"  and  promised  such  indemnity  as  the 
American  citizens  concerned  were  entitled  to  receive. 

Much  the  greater  part  of  the  note,  which  was  very  long, 
was  devoted  to  an  elaborate  and  detailed  account  of  the  sink- 
ing. From  the  facts  thus  related  Baron  Burian  claimed  that 
"the  information  reaching  the  American  Government  that  a 
solid  shot  was  immediately  fired  towards  the  steamer,"  was  in- 
correct; that  she  was  not  overhauled  by  pursuit;  that  shells 
were  not  fired  at  her  after  she  had  stopped,  and  that  an  un- 
usually long  time,  forty-five  minutes,  was  given  to  enable  the 
passengers  to  take  to  the  boats ;  and  that  after  she  was  torpedoed 
another  period  of  forty-five  minutes  elapsed  before  she  quietly 
sank. 

Nevertheless,  the  Imperial  and  Royal  naval  authorities  had 
decided  that  the  commander  "had  failed  to  take  into  due  con- 
sideration the  panic  of  the  passengers,  and  the  spirit  of  the  rule 
of  the  Royal  and  (Imperial  Navy  that  officers  must  never  refuse 
to  help  any  one  in  distress,  not  even  an  enemy."  The  officer 
therefore  had  been  punished  for  exceeding  his  instructions. 

Investigation  into  the  cause  of  the  sinking  of  the  Ancona 
''as  a  matter  of  course"  could  not  determine  "to  what  degree 
American  citizens  are  entitled  to  a  claim  for  indemnity."  Aus- 
tria could  not  be  held  responsible  for  injuries  due  to  the  "justi- 
fied firing  on  the  fleeing  ship,"  nor  for  those  caused  by  the  cap- 


210     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

sizing  of  the  boats  after  they  reached  the  water.  The  Im- 
perial and  Royal  Government  assumed  that  the  Washington 
Cabinet  was  able  and  willing  to  supply  information  of  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  American  citizens  were  injured. 
Should  these  circumstances  be  unknown  because  of  lack  of 
proper  material  evidence,  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government 
as  a  manifestation  of  its  "friendly  sentiments"  would  "overlook 
this  gap"  and  extend  the  indemnity  also  to  those  injuries  the 
direct  cause  of  which  could  not  be  ascertained. 

The  text  of  the  note  was  made  public  in  our  country  on  New 
Year's  Day,  1916,  and  was  read  with  great  satisfaction. 

The  threatened  break  with  Austria-Hungary,  it  was  said, 
has  been  averted  by  the  full  compliance  of  the  dual  monarchy 
with  the  demands  of  the  United  States.  Not  only  are  the  im- 
portant points  of  the  demand  squarely  met,  but  indemnity  is 
promised  and  assurance  is  given  that  no  more  ships  will  be  sunk 
unless  they  flee  or  offer  resistance.  This  is  more  far  reaching 
and  satisfactory  than  the  assurance  from  Germany.  She  only 
pledged  herself  not  to  sink  "liners"  until  the  passengers  were 
in  the  boats.  We  can  now  face  the  new  year  with  renewed  pride 
in  our  Government  because  of  this  great  diplomatic  success  com- 
ing as  a  fitting  climax  to  a  year  of  real  diplomatic  achievements. 

These  high  hopes  were  quickly  dashed  for,  on  January  2, 
the  newspapers  announced  that  the  Persia  had  been  sunk  in 
the  eastern  Mediterranean  by  a  submarine,  that  of  550  passen- 
gers and  crew  but  158  survived,  and  that  among  those  drowned 
was  the  newly  appointed  American  consul  on  his  way  to  his 
post  at  Aden,  Arabia. 

Coming  so  soon  after  positive  assurance  from  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  that  private  ships,  if  they  did  not  re- 
sist or  flee,  would  not  be  torpedoed  until  persons  on  board  had 
been  placed  in  safety,  this  new  act  of  frightfulness  seemed  like 
a  deliberate  breaking  of  the  pledge,  a  wanton  act  of  defiance. 
In  great  alarm  the  Austrian  charge,  Baron  Zwiedinek,  made 
haste  to  explain.  Judgment,  he  said,  should  be  withheld  dur- 
ing an  investigation  of  the  real  facts  surrounding  the  sinking 
of  the  Persia.  It  may  have  happened  in  many  ways.  It  is  not 
yet  proved  that  a  submarine  sank  her.  If  so,  and  the  destroyer 
was  an  Austrian  submarine,  he  was  quite  sure  his  Government 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  211 

would  not  hesitate  to  settle  the  matter  satisfactorily.  It  might 
be  that  circumstances  warranted  the  action.  From  the  White 
House  came  the  statement  that  the  President  was  taking  every 
means  in  his  power  to  obtain  the  facts,  and  would  act  just  as 
soon  as  full  information  was  at  hand. 

Much  information  was  secured:  but  nothing  that  bore  on 
the  point  in  dispute.  At  Alexandria  the  American  consul 
took  the  affidavits  of  many  of  the  survivors ;  but  not  one  of  them 
had  seen  a  submarine,  or  a  torpedo. 

Without  waiting  for  action  by  the  German  Government, 
Count  von  Bernstorff,  on  January  7,  1916,  brought  to  the  De- 
partment of  State  a  memorandum  explaining  the  German 
method  of  conducting  submarine  warfare  in  the  Mediterranean. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  stated,  German  submarine 
commanders  in  that  sea  had  been  ordered  "to  conduct  cruiser 
warfare  against  enemy  merchant  vessels  only  in  accordance 
with  the  general  principles  of  international  law."  Measures 
"of  reprisal,  as  applied  in  the  war  zone  around  the  British 
Isles,  were  to  be  excluded."  Merchant  vessels  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean therefore  could  be  destroyed  by  submarines  only  after 
passengers  and  crews  had  "been  accorded  safety"  provided  the 
vessels  did  not  attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance.  Destruc- 
tion of  such  ships  was  officially  investigated  and  so  far  as 
American  interests  are  concerned  the  results  would  be  sent  to 
the  American  Government.  "Thus  also  in  the  Persia  case,  if 
the  circumstances  should  call  for  it."  If  submarine  com- 
manders did  not  obey  orders  they  would  be  punished  and  rep- 
aration made  for  the  death  or  injury  of  American  citizens. 

When  investigation  was  made  the  German  Government  sent 
assurances  that  it  had  heard  from  all  its  submarine  commanders 
in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  that  each  reported  that  he  had 
not  attacked  the  Persia,  and  the  Austrian  charge  declared  that 
no  Austrian  submarine  commander,  so  far  as  heard  from,  had 
sunk  the  ship.  In  the  absence  of  evidence  from  survivors,  and 
in  the  face  of  such  statements  from  Vienna  and  Berlin,  the  loss 
of  an  American  life  by  the  sinking  of  the  Persia,  could  not  be 
made  the  subject  of  complaint.  Perhaps  a  Turkish  submarine 
had  done  the  deed.  Turkey  was  therefore  asked  concerning  the 


212     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

operations  of  her  submarines  and  denied  they  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  destruction  of  the  Persia. 

On  the  tenth  of  January,  1916,  the  newspapers  announced 
that  Count  von  Bernstorff  and  Secretary  Lansing,  who  had  heen 
working  for  some  time  past  for  a  settlement  of  the  Lusitania 
question,  had  agreed  on  a  tentative  arrangement  and  sent  it  to 
the  Foreign  Office  at  Berlin.  Although  the  utmost  secrecy 
surrounded  the  negotiation  the .  assertion  was  made  that  the 
draft  as  submitted  by  Germany  made  no  mention  of  the  warn- 
ing issued  by  the  German  Embassy,  and  contained  no  admis- 
sion of  wrong  doing  on  the  part  of  the  submarine  commander 
who  sank  the  Lusitania,  and  that  for  these  reasons  the  proposal 
was  rejected  by  the  President.  A  new  draft  was  therefore  pre- 
sented later  in  January.  This  too  was  rejected  because,  it  was 
said,  Germany  had  not  consented  to  admit  legal  liability  for  the 
destruction  of  the  Lusitania.  Germany  was  willing  to  pay  in- 
demnity as  an  act  of  grace,  but  not  as  a  matter  of  law  or  right 
as  the  United  States  insisted  she  should.  Another  draft  was 
therefore  drawn  up  and  finally  referred  to  Berlin.  As  sum- 
marized by  those  who  claimed  to  know,  the  terms  of  the  memo- 
randum were  that  Germany  was  not  called  on  to  make  a  specific 
disavowal  of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania;  that  the  destruction 
of  the  vessel  was  an  act  of  reprisal  recognized  by  international 
law,  in  retaliation  for  the  illegal  starvation  blockade  of  Ger- 
many by  Great  Britain;  that  Germany  recognized  that  while 
the  sinking  of  the  liner  was  a  lawful  reprisal,  the  consequent 
killing  of  innocent  neutrals  was  an  illegal  and  unlawful  act; 
that  realizing  that  the  killing  of  American  citizens  was  illegal 
Germany  would  pay  indemnity;  and  that  she  had  abandoned 
this  form  of  reprisal  and  in  future  would  not  sink  without  warn- 
ing. 

On  February  2,  it  was  reported  from  Washington  that  new 
instructions  had  come  from  Berlin,  that  there  was  a  reasonable 
hope  of  coming  to  an  understanding ;  that  important  concessions 
had  been  made;  that  all  danger  of  a  break  in  diplomatic  rela- 
tions was  over,  and  that  from  the  German  point  of  view  all  that 
the  United  States  asked  had  been,  in  substance,  granted.  Re- 
ports from  Berlin  set  forth  that  Germany  could  not  and  would 
not  acknowledge  the  sinking  of  a  liner  by  a  submarine  to  be 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  213 

illegal;  that  the  new  instructions  to  von  Berastorff  contained 
merely  a  new  formula  by  which  it  was  hoped  to  satisfy  Wash- 
ington in  this  respect  without  humiliating  Germany;  that  the 
word  "illegal"  was  not  in  the  formula,  which  in  other  respects 
went  as  far  as  possible  toward  meeting  the  wishes  of  America. 

Under-Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Dr.  Alfred  Zimmer- 
mann,  in  an  interview,  said  he  hoped  the  formula  would  afford 
a  possible  base  of  settlement,  for  Germany  had  reached  the  limit 
of  her  concessions  and  under  no  circumstances  would  she  con- 
cede that  her  campaign  in  the  war  zone  was  illegal.  "The 
Government  is  willing  *to  do  everything  in  its  power  to  meet 
American  wishes,  but  there  are  limits  beyond  which  even 
friendship  snaps.  I  do  not  understand  America's  course.  We 
thought  the  submarine  issue  settled,  and  the  Lusiiania  question 
on  the  way  to  arrangement,  had  agreed  to  pay  indemnity  and  all 
that,  when  the  United  States  suddenly  made  its  new  demands, 
which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  accept." 

His  firm  stand,  made  it  was  afterwards  charged  for  home 
consumption,  was  heartily  approved  in  Germany.  The  feeling 
was  bitter  against  our  country  because  of  the  shipment  of  muni- 
tions of  war,  and  because  of  what  was  held  to  be  our  double 
standard  of  neutrality  as  shown  by  not  pressing  Great  Britain 
as  hard  as  Germany. 

To  the  charge  of  Dr.  Zimmermann,  Secretary  Lansing  re- 
plied, "I  doubt  very  much  that  Dr.  Zimmermann  made  such 
a  statement  as  he  must  know  it  is  utterly  false."  The  United 
States,  the  Secretary  said,  had  not  increased  its  demands  over 
those  in  the  notes  of  May  13,  June  9,  and  July  12.  In  the  first 
Lusitania  note,  that  of  May  13,  1915,  are  the  words  "disavow 
the  act,  make  reparation  and  take  immediate  steps  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  anything  as  obviously  subversive  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  warfare."  The  second  note,  that  of  June  9,  1915, 
"very  earnestly  and  very  solemnly"  renewed  the  demands  of 
the  first.  In  that  of  July  21,  our  Government,  taking  the 
ground  that  the  Imperial  Government  by  pleading  "the  right  of 
retaliation  in  defense  of  its  acts"  admitted  their  illegality, 
"could  not  believe"  that  it  would  "longer  refrain  from  dis- 
avowing the  wanton  act  of  its  naval  commander  in  sinking  the 


214     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Lusitanid"  It  was  this  demand  for  disavowal  three  times  re- 
peated that  prevented  settlement. 

Rumors  of  a  settlement  now  became  current.  The  language 
of  the  new  memorandum  was  said  to  have  been  approved,  and 
the  formula  made  broad  enough  to  cover  all  that  had  been  de- 
manded in  the  Lusitania  case,  and  only  the  most  unexpected 
event  could  reopen  discussion;  but  the  rumors  were  false,  the 
formula  was  not  accepted  and  the  issue  still  remains  unsettled. 

And  now,  Germany  once,  more  explained  her  position  in  the 
U-boat  controversy,  and  March  8,  1916,  the  Department  of 
State  received  an  undated  memorandum.  The  Imperial 
Government,  Count  von  Bernstorff  said,  because  of  the  friendly 
relations  which  'had  always  existed  between  the  two  great  na- 
tions, and  earnestly  desiring  to  continue  them,  wished  to  ex- 
plain the  U-boat  question  once  more  to  the  American  Govern- 
ment. At  the  opening  of  the  war,  the  German  Government, 
acting  on  the  suggestion  of  the  United  States,  expressed  willing- 
ness to  ratify  the  Declaration  of  London.  Great  Britain  on  the 
other  hand  declined,  began  to  restrict  the  lawful  trade  of  neu- 
trals as  a  blow  at  Germany,  extended  the  list  of  contraband  ar- 
ticles, and  by  an  order  of  the  Admiralty  declared  the  whole 
North  Sea  a  war  zone  within  which  merchant  ships  would  be 
in  serious  danger  from  mines  and  men  of  war.  Protests  from 
neutrals  were  of  no  avail,  and  thenceforth  neutral  trade  with 
Germany  was  dead.  Under  these  conditions  Germany  was 
forced  to  resort  to  reprisals  and  chose  for  that  purpose  a  new 
weapon,  the  submarine  boat.  As  both  belligerents  claimed  that 
their  acts  were  "in  retaliation  for  the  violation  of  international 
law  by  their  opponents,  the  American  Government  approached 
both"  in  the  hope  of  reestablishing  international  law  as  it  had 
been  before  the  war.  "Germany  was  asked  to  adapt  her  new 
weapon  to  rules"  which  applied  to  the  old  naval  weapons. 
Great  Britain  was  asked  not  to  cut  off  "the  food  supplies  in- 
tended for  the  noncombatant  Gernjan  population  and  to  admit 
their  distribution  under  American  supervision."  Germany  ex- 
pressed her  willingness  to  comply;  England  declined.  Never- 
theless, Germany  after  "neutral  citizens  had  lost  their  lives 
against  the  wish  and  intention  of  the  German  Government," 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  215 

complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  American  Government  in  the 
use  of  submarines. 

"Thus  England  made  it  impossible  for  submarines  to  con- 
form with  the  old  rules  of  international  law  by  arming  nearly 
all  merchantmen,  and  by  ordering  the  use  of  guns  on  merchant 
vessels  for  attack,"  and  supplemented  the  order  by  "instruc- 
tions to  the  masters  of  such  ships  to  hoist  false  flags  and  to  ram 
the  boats."  Finally  "the  principle  of  the  United  States  not  to 
keep  their  citizens  off  belligerent  ships  has  been  used  by  Great 
Britain  and  her  Allies  to  arm  merchant  ships  for  offensive  pur- 
poses." 

"Now  Germany  is  facing  the  following  facts":  A  blockade 
contrary  to  international  law  which  has  cut  off  neutral  trade 
from  her  ports ;  an  extension  of  contraband  provisions  in  viola- 
tion of  international  law,  which  for  eighteen  months  has  ham- 
pered the  overseas  trade  of  neighboring  neutral  countries;  and 
the  interception  of  mails  in  violation  of  international  law. 
"Following  the  principle  of  'might  before  right/  England  had 
prevented  neutral  trade  on  land  with  Germany  so  as  to  com- 
plete the  blockade  of  the  Central  Powers  intended  to  starve 
their  civil  population,"  and  by  arming  merchant  vessels  for 
offensive  purposes  had  made  it  impossible  for  Germany  to  use 
U-boats  "according  to  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  London 
Declaration." 

On  March  23,  the  Allies,  through  their  representatives  in 
Washington,  replied  to  Mr.  Lansing's  request  that  they  dis- 
arm their  merchantmen,  and  declared  themselves  unwilling  to 
give  up  their  "acknowledged  right  to  arm,"  or  to  "agree  that, 
upon  a  non-guaranteed  German  promise,  human  life  may  be 
surrendered  defenseless  to  the  mercy  of  an  enemy  who,  in  cir- 
cumstances of  this  kind  as  in  many  others,  has  shown  himself 
to  be  both  faithless  and  lawless." 

The  very  next  day  a  German  submarine  gave  a  fine  illus- 
tration of  the  worthlessness  of  German  pledges  by  torpedoing 
without  warning  an  unarmed  passenger  steamer  while  crossing 
the  Channel. 

The  torpedoed  vessel  was  the  French  passenger  steamer 
Sussex,  regularly  employed  in  transporting  travelers  between 
Folkestone  and  Dieppe.  She  left  Folkestone  about  half  past 


216     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

one  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  March  24,  1916,  with  a  crew  of 
53  men  and  325  or  more  passengers,  of  whom  some  25  were 
American  citizens.  She  carried  no  armament,  had  never  been 
used  as  a  troop  ship,  and  was  following  a  route  not  taken  by 
vessels  transporting  troops  from  England  to  France.  At  ten 
minutes  before  three  o'clock,  when  the  Sussex  was  some  thir- 
teen miles  from  Dungeness,  the  captain  saw,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  meters  off  the  port  side  of  his  ship,  the  wake  of  a  torpedo, 
and  gave  orders  to  port  the  helm  and  stop  the  engines,  hoping  to 
swing  the  Sussex  to  starboard  and  allow  the  torpedo  to  pass 
along  the  port  bow.  Before  she  could  be  turned  sufficiently  to 
prevent  her  crossing  the  path  of  the  torpedo  it  struck  her  just 
forward  of  the  bridge,  exploded  and  tore  away  the  forward 
part  of  the  vessel  as  far  back  as  the  first  water  tight  bulkhead, 
killing  or  wounding  some  eighty  persons.  Such  was  the  story 
of  the  captain. 

The  story  of  two  American  survivors  as  given  in  an  affidavit 
sets  forth  that  about  five  minutes  after  three,  when  the  Sussex 
was  about  an  hour  and  a  half  out  from  Folkestone,  there  was  a 
loud  explosion;  that  wreckage  and  tons  of  water  were  thrown 
into  the  air ;  that  when  the  aifiants  went  forward  they  saw  that 
the  forward  part  of  the  vessel  including  the  bridge  and  fore- 
mast were  gone,  and  that  many  persons  had  been  killed  and 
others  had  been  thrown  or  had  jumped  into  the  water.  Six 
life  boats  were  lowered,  but,  finding  the  ship  did  not  sink,  they 
were  later  recalled,  and  taken  aboard.  Near  midnight  a  French 
trawler  took  off  the  women  and  children  and  some  men,  and 
carried  them  to  Boulogne.  A  British  torpedo  boat  removed  the 
remainder  of  the  passengers  and  crew  and  carried  them  to 
Dover.  The  Sussex  was  towed  into  the  harbor  of  Boulogne.  A 
careful  and  thorough  examination  of  the  vessel  both  inside  and 
out,  by  naval  and  military  officers  of  the  United  States,  at- 
tached to  our  Embassy  at  Paris,  and  the  finding  of  fifteen  frag- 
ments of  what  seemed  to  be  a  torpedo,  established  the  fact  that 
it  was  a  torpedo  and  not  a  mine  that  almost  destroyed  the 
Sussex.  Indeed,  when  the  fragments  were  compared  with  Ger- 
man torpedoes  in  England,  no  doubt  remained  that  they  were 
parts  not  merely  of  a  torpedo,  but  of  one  "made  in  Germany." 

More  sinkings  now  followed  in  rapid  succession.    The  Eng- 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  217 

lisliman,  and  the  Manchester  Engineer,  with  Americans  aboard, 
were  reported  sunk,  and  because  the  Government  could  do  noth- 
ing before  facts  had  been  obtained,  Ambassador  Gerard  was 
instructed  to  inquire  of  the  German  Government  if  the  Sussex, 
the  Englishman  and  the  Manchester  Engineer  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  submarines.  Investigation  by  the  German  Admiralty 
was  begun  but  before  any  reply  was  made  to  the  American  re- 
quest news  came  that  the  steamers  Berwindvale  and  Eagle 
Point  with  Americans  on  board  had  been  torpedoed,  and  Ger- 
many was  asked  if  they  were  sunk  by  submarines.  "Who  on 
earth  in  Germany  cares,"  said  a  Hamburg  newspaper,  "whether 
these  ships  were  torpedoed  by  German  submarines  or  not? 
They  belonged  to  and  were  used  by  the  enemy  and  were  de- 
stroyed. That  is  all  we  care  about  at  this  moment." 

In  the  Reichstag  resolutions  were  adopted  declaring  that 
"Germany's  sea  warfare  should  be  carried  out  by  all  means 
most  instrumental  in  securing  a  successful  issue  of  the  war." 
In  the  course  of  debate  leaders  of  all  parties  called  for  unre- 
stricted submarine  warfare.  A  National  Liberal  said,  "America 
has  interpreted  the  idea  of  neutrality  in  a  manner  incompatible 
with  the  German  conception.  It  is  an  unjustifiable  demand 
that  armed  merchantmen  should  be  permitted  to  sail  unhin- 
dered within  the  war  zone."  A  Conservative  member  asserted 
that  "the  German  people  are  firmly  resolved  to  disregard  the 
unjustifiable  demands  of  America."  A  leader  of  the  Center 
complained  that  the  people,  press  and  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  shown  by  their  acts  that  they  sympathized  with  Eng- 
land and  not  with  Germany. 

Little  surprise,  therefore,  was  expressed  when  reports  from 
Berlin  announced  that  Germany  would  enter  a  flat  denial  that 
a  submarine  had  sunk  the  Sussex,  and  that  in  a  day  or  two  Am- 
bassador Gerard  would  be  handed  the  note.  The  report  proved 
to  be  true  and  on  April  13,  1916,  the  note  was  made  public. 

On  March  16,  said  the  note,  a  steamer  "which  possibly  was 
the  Berwindvale"  was  met,  in  sight  of  Bull  Rock  on  the  Irish 
Coast,  by  a  submarine  running  unsubmerged,  attempted  to  es- 
cape, was  warned  by  a  shot,  put  out  all  lights  and  continued  to 
flee,  was  fired  on,  forced  to  halt  and  then  lowered  her  boats. 
After  the  crew  had  entered  them  and  rowed  away  she  was  sunk. 


218     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Her  name  was  unknown  but  as  she  "was  a  tank  steamer  like 
the  Berwindvale  the  identity  of  the  ship  may  be  assumed." 

The  steamer  Englishman  off  the  west  coast  of  "Islay  Heb- 
rides" was  summoned  to  stop,  on  March  24,  but  went  on,  was 
fired  on  and  "after  an  extended  chase"  made  to  halt.  When  the 
crew  had  taken  to  the  boats  she  also  was  sunk.  That  the  Man- 
chester Engineer  was  destroyed  by  a  submarine  was  doubtful. 
More  information  therefore  was  asked.  The  account  of  the 
sinking  of  the  Eagle  Point,  as  told  in  the  German  note,  was 
much  the  same.  She  had  been  warned,  chased,  fired  on,  made 
to  halt  and  when  the  crew  were  in  the  boats,  was  sunk. 

As  to  the  Sussex,  the  facts,  gathered  with  much  difficulty, 
were,  that  on  March  24,  "a  long  black  craft  without  a  flag,  hav- 
ing a  gray  funnel,  small  gray  forward  works  and  two  high  masts, 
was  encountered  about  the  middle  of  the  English  Channel,  by 
a  German  submarine."  The  "plain  unbroken  deck,"  the  form 
of  the  stern,  "sloping  downwards  and  backwards  like  a  war  ves- 
sel;" the  "high  speed  developed"  and  her  color,  "like  a  war  ves- 
sel," led  the  commander  of  the  submarine  to  believe  she  was 
a  war  vessel,  and  "indeed  a  mine  layer."  Therefore  she  was 
attacked  while  the  submarine  was  submerged.  "The  torpedo 
struck  and  caused  such  a  violent  explosion  in  the  forward  part 
of  the  ship  that  the  entire  forward  part  was  torn  away  to  the 
bridge."  The  violence  of  the  explosion  justified  the  belief  that 
"great  amounts  of  munitions  were  aboard." 

The  German  commander  made  a  sketclvof  the  vessel,  "two 
drawings  of  which"  were  enclosed  as  were  two  pictures  of  the 
Sussex,  "reproduced  photographically  from  the  English  paper, 
the  Daily  Graphic,  of  the  27th  ultimo." 

A  comparison  of  the  picture  and  the  sketch  showed,  the  note 
said,  such  differences  in  the  positions  of  the  stacks  and  shape 
of  the  sterns,  that  the  craft  attacked  could  not  be  the  Sussex. 
As  no  other  attack  by  submarines  occurred  at  the  time  she  was 
on  the  Folkestone — Dieppe  route  "the  German  Government 
must  therefore  assume  that  the  injury  to  the  Sussex  is  attribu- 
table to  another  cause  than  an  attack  by  a  German  submarine." 
Such  a  cause  might  be  a  mine,  for  "no  less  than  26  English 
mines  were  exploded  by  shots  by  German  naval  forces  on  April 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  219 

1  and  2,  alone.  The  entire  sea  is,  in  fact,  endangered  by  float- 
ing mines  and  by  torpedoes,  that  have  not  sunk." 

Should  any  difference  of  opinion  arise  "between  the  two 
Governments,  the  German  Government  now  declares  itself 
ready  to  have  the  facts  of  the  case  established  through  mixed 
commissions  of  investigation  in  accordance  with  the  third  title 
of  The  Hague  Agreement  for  the  Peaceful  Settlement  of  Inter- 
national Conflicts,  November  18,  1907." 

April  18,  the  newspapers  asserted  that  the  President  would 
address  Congress  on  the  submarine  issue  on  the  nineteenth ;  that 
it  was  expected  "he  would  not  mince  words" ;  but,  after  re- 
citing the  long  list  of  offenses  committed  against  us  by  Ger- 
many, would  declare  her  guilty  of  bad  faith,  no  more  worthy 
to  be  considered  a  friend,  and  would  announce  that  diplomatic 
relations  with  her  were  ended. 

When  the  people  opened  their  newspapers  on  the  morning 
of  the  nineteenth  they  found  the  note  to  Germany  printed  in 
full,  and  learned  that  it  would  be  in  Berlin  before  the  President 
met  Congress. 

Information  in  the  possession  of  the  Government,  the  Presi- 
dent said,  fully  established  the  facts  in  the  case  of  the  Sussex. 
"A  careful,  detailed  and  scrupulously  impartial  investigation 
by  naval  and  military  officers  of  the  United  States  has  con- 
clusively established  the  fact  that  the  Sussex  was  torpedoed 
without  warning  or  summons  to  surrender,  and  that  the  tor- 
pedo by  which  she  was  struck  was  of  German  manufacture." 

If  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex  were  an  isolated  case  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  might  hope  that  the  officer 
responsible  for  the  deed  "had  willfully  violated  his  orders  or 
had  been  criminally  negligent  in  taking  none  of  the  precau- 
tions" required.  On  the  contrary,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  was  forced  to  conclude  "that  it  is  only  one  instance"  of 
"the  deliberate  method  and  spirit  of  indiscriminate  destruc- 
tion of  merchant  vessels  of  all  sorts,  nationalities  and  destina- 
tions which  have  become  more  and  more  unmistakable  as  the 
activity  of  German  undersea  vessels  of  war  has  in  recent  months 
been  quickened  and  extended." 

The  President  then  reviewed  the  German  war  zone  order  of 
February,  1915,  the  earnest  protest  of  the  United  States,  the 


220     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WOKLD  WAR 

grounds  on  which  the  protest  rested,  and  continued,  "In  pur- 
suance of  this  policy  of  submarine  warfare  against  the  com- 
merce of  its  adversaries,"  German  submarine  commanders  had 
carried  on  "practices  of  ruthless  destruction"  which  the  Ger- 
man Government  could  not  restrain  "as  it  had  hoped  and  prom- 
ised" to  do.  "Again  and  again  the  Imperial  Government  has 
given  its  solemn  assurances  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  that  at  least  passenger  ships  would  not  be  thus  dealt  with, 
and  yet  it  has  repeatedly  permitted  its  undersea  commanders 
to  disregard  those  assurances  with  entire  impunity."  Vessels 
owned  by  neutrals,  bound  from  neutral  port  to  neutral  port,  had 
been  destroyed  "in  constantly  increasing  numbers."  Some  had 
been  warned  before  they  were  attacked;  sometimes  their  pas- 
sengers and  crews  "had  been  vouchsafed  the  poor  security  of 
being  allowed  to  take  to  the  ship's  boats."  But  again  and  again 
no  warning  had  been  given  and  "great  liners  like  the  Lusitania 
and  Arabic  and  mere  passenger  boats  like  the  Sussex  have  been 
attacked  without  a  moment's  warning"  and  "in  a  manner  which 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  but  regard  as 
wanton  and  without  the  slightest  color  of  justification." 

The  "roll  of  Americans  who  have  lost  their  lives  upon 
ships  thus  attacked  and  destroyed  has  grown  month  by  month 
until  the  ominous  toll  has  mounted  into  the  hundreds." 

The  Government  through  all  this  repetition  of  tragedy  af- 
ter tragedy  had  been  most  patient.  It  had  striven  to  be  guided 
by  "sentiments  of  genuine  friendship  for  the  people  and  Govern- 
ment of  Germany."  It  had  accepted  every  explanation  and  as- 
surance as  "given  in  entire  sincerity  and  good  faith."  It  had 
"hoped  even  against  hope"  that  the  German  Government  would 
be  able  "so  to  order  and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval  com- 
manders as  to  square  its  policy  with  the  recognized  principles  of 
humanity  as  embodied  in  the  law  of  nations."  It  had  "made 
every  allowance  for  unprecedented  conditions."  Jt  had  "been 
willing  to  wait  until  the  facts  became  unmistakable  and  were 
susceptible  of  only  one  interpretation." 

"It  now  owes  it  to  a  just  regard  for  its  own  rights  to  say  to 
the  Imperial  Government  that  that  time  has  come."  If  there- 
fore it  was  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government  to 
prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against  vessels 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  221 

of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines,  there  was  but  one  course 
for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  pursue. 

"Unless  the  Imperial  Government  should  now  immediately 
declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its  present  methods  of 
submarine  warfare  against  passenger  and  freight-carrying  ves- 
sels, the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  have  no  other 
choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the  German  Em- 
pire altogether." 

An  appendix  to  the  note  gave  the  evidence,  affidavits  of  sur- 
vivors, reports  from  the  Captain  of  the  Sussex  and  the  Ameri- 
can officers  who  examined  her  wreck,  statements  from  the  Brit- 
ish Admiralty  and  the  French  Foreign  Office  and  descriptions 
of  the  fifteen  pieces  of  metal,  all  of  which  went  to  prove  that 
the  Sussex  was  struck  by  a  German  torpedo. 

The  speech  to  Congress  was  a  review  of  our  relations  with 
Germany,  but  what  the  President  said  added  little  to  the  con- 
tents of  the  note.  Indeed,  whole  passages  were  quoted  from  it 
word  for  word. 

By  those  who  heard  the  address  it  was  received  with  ap- 
proval and  disapproval.  Some  thought  the  issue  was  a  matter 
for  the  President  and  not  for  Congress  to  settle;  that  the  ad- 
dress pointed  to  a  very  grave  situation ;  that  the  President  could 
not  have  done  less  under  the  circumstances ;  that  it  was  a  mere 
statement  of  facts  and  might  as  well  have  been  given  to  the 
newspapers  so  far  as  Congressional  action  was  concerned;  that 
coming  after  the  note  had  been  sent,  the  address  was  wholly  un- 
necessary; that  the  situation  was  serious,  but  that  breaking 
diplomatic  relations  did  not  necessarily  mean  war  unless  an- 
other case  like  the  Sussex  occurred;  that  the  time  to  have 
threatened  the  breaking  of  diplomatic  relations  was  when  Bel- 
gium was  invaded,  or  the  Lusitania  sunk ;  that  "the  President 
has  never  been  neutral.  He  has  been  on  the  English  side  all 
the  time.  What  he  said  about  Germany,  while  it  is  grossly  ex- 
aggerated, is  a  just  complaint.  But  he  could  say  just  as  much 
about  England,  by  substituting  'seizing  ships'  for  'sinking 
ships',"  that  "the  President  has  issued  his  ultimatum  and  now 
asks  Congress  to  sustain  him.  He  has  told  Germany  that  she 
must  abandon  submarine  warfare,  a  modern  institution  that  no 
nation  would  for  a  single  moment  think  of  abandoning.  I 


222     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

know  it  is  popular  to  say,  'stand  by  the  President.'  I  propose 
to  stand  by  that  President  when  he  is  right,  but  in  this  instance 
a  nation  fighting  for  her  national  life  is  not  going  to  be  harassed 
or  hounded  by  ancient,  antiquated,  antediluvian  international 
laws  that  have  been  resurrected  at  Germany's  expense." 

The  German  language  press  was  outspoken  against  the 
President.  The  New  York  Staats-Z 'eitung  held  it  to  be  "un- 
thinkable that  the  German  Government  should  recognize"  the 
President  as  the  spokesman  of  all  neutral  nations,  "and  grant 
the  peremptory  demands  of  the  President  as  long  as  the  cause 
for  the  inauguration  of  this  submarine  warfare,  the  illegal 
British  blockade,"  remained  in  force,  "and  as  long  as  British  in- 
humanity against  the  civilian  noncombatant  population  of  Ger- 
many is  continued."  "The  President  has  brought  about  a  dip- 
lomatic situation  which  must  involve  the  United  States  in  a 
war  with  Germany  unless  Congress  intercedes  in  proper  time." 

The  Illinois  Staats-Z  eitung  was  "not  aware  that  Mr.  Wil- 
son ever  received  a  mandate  to  represent  humanity,  and  if  he 
did  he  ought  to  return  his  retainer,  for  he  never  represents  hu- 
manity, but  the  interests  of  ammunition  makers."  The  Cin- 
cinnati Freie  Presse  declared  that  "Wall  Street  wants  war,  and 
Morgan  wants  it,  but  the  majority  of  the  American  people 
want  no  war,  especially  no  war  with  a  nation  that  has  been  our 
friend  for  a  hundred  years." 

The  American  press  the  country  over  approved  the  address 
and  the  stand  the  President  had  taken.  The  patience  of  the 
country,  it  was  said,  had  been  strained  far  beyond  the  point 
where  the  forbearance  of  other  nations  would  have  ceased. 
Only  an  accumulation  of  grievances,  only  a  repeated  violation 
of  pledges,  made  to  us  by  the  German  Government,  has  at  last 
brought  the  President  to  the  breaking  point.  |It  is  now  for 
Germany  to  decide  whether  or  not  her  barbarous  conduct  is  to 
continue.  The  President  does  not  seek  war.  There  can  be  no 
war  unless  Germany  commits  an  overt  act  of  war.  If  that  is 
what  Berlin  is  bent  upon  nothing  the  United  States  can  do 
will  prevent  it,  save  shame  and  submission,  a  price  no  great 
nation  would  ever  pay.  Whatever  disposition  fate  may  make  of 
the  present  emergency,  the  people  will  support  the  President 
with  every  resource  they  command. 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  223 

German-Americans,  however,  were  active  in  their  opposi- 
tion, and  members  of  Congress  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  having  German  constituencies,  received 
hundreds  of  telegrams  protesting  against  a  break  with  Germany. 

The  London  press  expressed  the  opinion  that  there  was  now 
no  retreat  for  either  party,  and  that  Germany  must  either 
yield  or  fight.  That  she  would  yield  was  not  expected.  Amer- 
ica had  now  practically  taken  her  place  beside  the  civilized  na- 
tions of  the  earth.  In  Paris  the  press  took  the  same  view. 
"France,"  said  one,  "awaits  calmly  the  eventual  rupture. 
America  could  not  give  us  greater  sympathy  than  she  has  al- 
ready shown,  but  we  will  feel  moral  joy  to  see  that  noble  na- 
tion break  all  relations  with  a  nation  of  pirates  which  precipi- 
tated the  present  world  tragedy." 

The  Berlin  press,  as  reports  from  Geneva  announced,  was 
angry.  Germany,  the  Tages  Zeitung  declared,  would  never 
yield  to  America  because  of  Wilson's  bluff.  "The  attitude  of 
the  American  press  is  in  comical  contrast  to  the  really  effective 
power  of  that  country.  When  the  sword  of  Damocles  remains 
too  long  suspended  we  can  see  it  is  only  a  wooden  one."  The 
Berlin  Post  had  "heard  enough  of  silly  reproaches  leveled  at  us 
by  America's  seagoing  citizens.  If  Washington  gentlemen  be- 
lieve we  have  nothing  more  important  to  do  than  to  investigate 
whether  any  cattle  driver  had  a  lock  of  his  precious  hair  ruf- 
fled while  crossing  to  Europe,  then  the  people  in  the  White 
House  are  terribly  mistaken.  Why  do  Americans  choose  ships 
in  which  they  can  be  hurt?  Does  the  American  Government 
deny  that  there  are  rascals  among  America's  sons?  If  such 
rascals  are  paid  with  British  gold  to  make  dangerous  ocean 
trips,  why  should  Wilson  make* us  responsible  for  their  lives?" 

"We  did  not  sink  the  Sussex"  said  Admiral  von  Holtzen- 
dorff,  of  the  German  Admiralty,  in  an  interview  with  the 
agents  of  the  United  Press.  "I  am  as  confident  of  that  as  of 
anything  which  has  happened  in  this  war.  Many  of  our  sub- 
marines have  returned  from  rounding  up  British  vessels.  They 
sighted  scores  of  passenger  ships  going  between  England  and 
America,  but  not  one  of  these  was  touched."  "We  have  defi- 
nitely agreed  to  warn  the  crews  and  passengers  of  passenger 
liners.  We  have  lived  up  to  that  promise  in  every  way,  but  we 


224     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

cannot  be  asked  to  regard  freight  ships  in  the  same  manner." 
"If  diplomatic  relations  with  America  are  broken  our  sub- 
marines can  attack  an  enemy  ship  without  warning.  But  we 
have  no  desire  for  a  break  with  the  United  States.  That  would 
be  insanity.  We  shall  not  bring  it  about  despite  our  desire  to 
push  vigorously  our  submarine  warfare."  * 

The  reply  from  von  Jagow  was  dated  May  4.  The  German 
Government,  it  said,  had  turned  over  to  the  proper  naval  au- 
thorities the  evidence  submitted  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  concerning  the  Sussex,  and  by  the  results  of  the 
investigation  was  led  to  believe  it  possible  that  the  ship  men- 
tioned in  the  note  of  April  10,  as  having  been  torpedoed,  was 
the  Sussex.  But  the  German  Government  must  reserve  "fur- 
ther communication  until  it  had  settled  certain  points"  of  de- 
cisive importance  for  establishing  the  facts  in  the  case.  Should 
it  turn  out  that  the  commander  was  wrong  in  assuming"the  ves- 
sel to  be  a  man-of-war  the  German  Government  will  not  fail 
to  draw  the  consequence  resulting  therefrom. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  von  Jagow  went  on 
to  say,  had  made  "the  assertion  that  the  incident  is  to  be  con- 
sidered but  one  instance  of  a  deliberate  method  of  indiscriminate 
destruction  of  vessels  of  all  sorts,  nationalities  and  destina- 
tions, by  German  submarine  commanders.  The  German  Gov- 
ernment must  emphatically  repudiate  the  assertion." 

But  the  German  Government  would  not  discuss  the  matter 
"more  particularly  as  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
omitted  to  substantiate  the  assertion  by  reference  to  concrete 
facts."  It  would  only  state  that  "far  reaching  restraints  upon 
the  use  of  the  submarine  weapon"  had  been  imposed  solely  "in 
consideration  of  neutral"  interest  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  these 
restrictions  are  necessarily  of  disadvantage  to  Germany's  inter- 
ests. No  such  consideration  for  neutrals  had  ever  been  shown 
by  Great  Britain  or  her  allies. 

"The  German  submarine  forces  had,  in  fact,  orders  to  con- 
duct submarine  warfare  in  accordance  with  the  general  princi- 
ples of  visit  and  search  and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  as 
recognized  by  international  law,  the  sole  exception  being  the 

1  Dispatch  of  C.  W.  Ackerman,  correspondent  of  United  Press,  Phila- 
delphia Ledger,  April  22,  1916. 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  225 

conduct  of  warfare  against  the  enemy  trade  carried  on  enemy 
freight  ships  that  are  encountered  in  the  war  zone  surrounding 
Great  Britain.  With  regard  to  these  no  assurance  has  ever 
been  given  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

"The  German  Government  attaches  no  less  importance  to 
the  sacred  principles  of  humanity  than  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,"  and  fully  takes  into  account  that  both  Govern- 
ments had  for  years  sought  to  confine  warfare  on  sea  and  on 
land  to  the  armed  forces  of  the  belligerents  and  to  safeguard, 
as  far  as  possible,  noncombatants  against  the  horrors  of  war. 

"But,  although  those  considerations  are  of  great  weight, 
they  alone  would  not,  under  the  present  circumstances,  have 
determined  the  attitude  of  the  German  Government."  For 
it  was  not  Germany  but  the  British  Government  that  "has  ex- 
tended this  terrible  war  to  the  lives  and  property  of  non- 
combatants."  .  .  .  "In  self-defense  against  the  illegal  conduct 
of  British  warfare,  while  fighting  a  bitter  struggle  for  her 
national  existence,  Germany  had  to  resort  to  the  hard  but 
effective  weapon  of  submarine  warfare.  As  matters  stand,  the 
German  Government  cannot  but  reiterate  its  regret  that  the 
sentiments  of  humanity  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  extends  with  such  fervor  to  the  unhappy  victims  of 
submarine  warfare  are  not  extended  with  the  same  warmth 
of  feeling  to  the  many  millions  of  women  and  children  who, 
according  to  the  avowed  intentions  of  the  British  Government, 
shall  be  starved  and  who,  by  their  sufferings,  shall  force  the 
victorious  armies  of  the  Central  Powers  into  ignominious  ca- 
pitulation. The  German  Government,  in  agreement  with  the 
German  people,  fails  to  understand  this  discrimination."  .  .  . 
"The  German  people  know  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  the  power  to  confine  this  war  to  the  armed  forces 
of  the  belligerent  countries  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and 
the  maintenance  of  international  law,"  by  insisting  "against 
Great  Britain  on  its  incontestable  rights  to  the  freedom  of  the 
seas.  But,  as  matters  stand,  the  German  people  is  under  the 
impression  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  while 
demanding  that  Germany,  struggling  for  her  existence,  shall 
restrain  the  use  of  an  effective  weapon,  and  while  making  the 
compliance  with  these  demands  a  condition  for  the  maintenance 


226     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

of  relations  with  Germany,  confines  itself  to  protests  against 
the  illegal  methods  adopted  by  Germany's  enemies.  More- 
over, the  German  people  know  to  what  a  considerable  extent 
its  enemies  are  supplied  with  all  kinds  of  war  material  from 
the  United  States." 

But  the  German  Government  had  no  dtesire  that  the  sub- 
marine question  under  discussion  should  "take  a  turn  seri- 
ously threatening  the  maintenance  of  peace  between  the  two 
nations.  As  far  as  it  lies  with  the  German  Government  it 
wishes  to  prevent  things  taking  such  a  course."  Therefore, 
guided  by  this  idea,  it  "notifies  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  that  German  naval  forces  have  received  the  following 
orders:  In  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and 
search  and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  recognized  by  inter- 
national law,  such  vessels,  both  within  and  without  the  area 
declared  as  naval  war  zone,  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning 
and  without  saving  human  lives,  unless  those  ships  attempt  to 
escape  or  offer  resistance. 

"But  neutrals  cannot  expect  that  Germany,  forced  to  fight 
for  her  existence,  shall  for  the  sake  of  neutral  interests,  restrict 
the  use  of  an  effective  weapon  if  her  enemy  is  permitted  to 
continue  to  apply  at  will  methods  of  warfare  violating  the  rules 
of  international  law."  Therefore,  "in  consequence  of  the  new 
orders,"  the  German  Government  did  "not  doubt  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  will  now  demand  and  insist  that 
the  British  Government  shall  forthwith  observe  the  rules  of 
international  law"  as  laid  down  in  the  American  notes  to  Great 
Britain  on  December  28,  1914,  and  November  5,  1915. 
"Should  the  steps  be  taken  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  not  attain  the  object  it  desires  to  have  the  laws  of  human- 
ity followed  by  all  belligerent  nations,  the  German  Govern- 
ment would  then  be  facing  a  new  situation,  in  which  it  must 
reserve  itself  complete  liberty  of  decision." 

As  understood  by  the  people,  the  note  seemed  to  mean 
that  Germany  was  desirous  to  avoid  a  break  with  the  United 
States;  that  the  Imperial  Government  sought  to  convey  the 
impression  that  its  new  instructions  to  submarine  commanders 
was  a  full  compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  they  were  made  in  good  faith.  But  there  was  good 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  227 

reason  to  believe,  in  view  of  the  record  of  the  past,  that  the 
spirit  and  perhaps  the  letter  of  the  instructions  would  not  be 
carried  out  very  long.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  expres- 
sions and  passages  in  the  note  that  were  offensive.  "Must 
emphatically  repudiate"  the  assertion  that  the  destruction  of 
the  Sussex  was  but  an  instance  of  a  deliberate  destruction  of 
vessels  was  too  strong.  The  "regret"  that  the  sentiments  of 
humanity  expressed  for  victims  of  submarine  warfare  were 
not  extended  to  the  many  millions,  women  and  children,  Great 
Britain  sought  to  starve  was  a  little  too  ironical. 

By  the  press  the  note  was  generally  condemned.  The  new 
pledge  had  a  "string  tied  to  it"  and  would  not  be  kept  unless 
we  forced  Great  Britain  to  lift  her  blockade.  British  viola- 
tions affected  only  property,  and  could  be  atoned  for  with 
money.  Those  of  Germany  affected  human  life  and  could  not 
be  atoned  for  with  money.  Manifestly  the  tone  of  the  note  was 
intended  for  Berlin ;  the  substance  for  Washington.  All  -told, 
it  had  the  appearance  of  being  as  little  conciliatory  as  words 
could  make  it.  "The  German  Government  makes  damnable 
faces  all  through  its  note,  but  the  central  thing  required  by 
President  Wilson  it  yields."  Knowing  the  difficulties  which 
beset  the  German  Government,  we  could  therefore  well  afford 
to  overlook  what  under  other  circumstances  would  be  impu- 
dence. The  concession  was  conditional,  but  it  would  bring 
the  conduct  of  submarine  warfare  into  accord  with  our  de- 
mands. Expressions  of  opinion  by  forty-five  daily  newspapers 
of  importance,  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  declared,  showed,  while 
eighteen  approved  and  twelve  were  noncommittal,  fifteen  were 
outspoken  in  their  disapproval.2  Extracts  from  ten  Ger- 
man language  newspapers  3  showed  that,  in  their  opinion,  Ger- 
many had  gone  more  than  halfway  in  an  effort  to  meet  Ameri- 
can demands.  The  Toledo  German  Express  considered  the  note 
"not  an  ultimatum,  but  on  the  contrary  a  sincere  and  renewed 
effort  not  to  have  the  peaceful  relations  of  the  last  hundred 
years"  severed.  The  Louisville  Anzeiger  called  the  note  a 
clear,  frank,  fearless  exposition  "in  which,  while  the  German 
Government  virtually  accedes  to  American  demands,"  it  "at  the 

•Philadelphia  Ledger,  May  6,  1916. 
•Ibid. 


228     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

same  time  turns  the  issue  neatly  and  leaves  the  final  decision 
with  the  United  States." 

The  special  concession  thus  wrung  from  Germany  after 
months  of  constant  protest  and  negotiation  was  small,  indeed. 
Enemy  freight  ships  found  in  the  war  zone  were  not  to  be 
stopped,  visited,  searched  and  destroyed  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  international  law;  other  merchant  ships,  if  they  did 
not  resist  or  attempt  to  escape,  were  to  have  the  benefit  of  the 
principles  of  visit,  search  and  destruction  as  prescribed  by 
international  law;  but  neutrals  would  not  be  granted  even  this 
concession  if  Great  Britain  were  permitted  "to  continue  to 
apply  at  will  methods  of  warfare  violating  the  principles  of 
international  law."  Yet  it  was  of  real  importance  to  force 
Germany  to  pledge  herself  to  conduct  her  submarine  warfare 
"in  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and  search 
and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels,"  for  it  was  an  admission 
that  hitherto  she  had  not  done  so.  But  was  this  pledge  worth 
anything  with  the  condition  attached?  The  President  and 
his  Cabinet  thought  not,  and  on  May  8,  1916,  Secretary 
Lansing  replied  with  a  note,  made  public  on  May  9,  in  which 
"the  Imperial  Government's  declaration  of  its  abandonment  of 
the  policy  which  has  so  'seriously  menaced  the  good  relations 
between  the  two  countries,"  was  accepted  and  the  condition 
expressly  rejected. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  it  necessary 
to  state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government'  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the  maintenance  of 
its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way  contingent  upon 
the  course  or  result  of  diplomatic  negotiations  between  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  and  any  other  belligerent  Govern- 
ment, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  certain  passages  in  the 
Imperial  Government's  note  of  the  fourth  instant  appear  to  be 
susceptible  of  that  construction." 

"In  order,  however,  to  avoid  any  possible  misunderstanding, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  notifies  the  Imperial 
Government  that  it  cannot  for  a  moment  entertain,  much  less 
discuss,  a  suggestion  that  respect  by  German  naval  authorities 
for  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  high 
seas  should  in  any  way  or  in  the  slightest  degree  be  made  con- 


SINKING  WITHOUT  WARNING  229 

tingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Government  affecting 
the  rights  of  neutrals  and  noncombatants.  Responsibility  in 
such  matters  is  single,  not  joint;  absolute,  not  relative." 

Meantime  on  May  8,  1916,  the  German  Government  fin- 
ished its  investigation  and  in  a  note  to  Mr.  Gerard  acknowl- 
edged that  a  German  submarine  damaged  the  Sussex.  "On  the 
basis  of  the  American  material,"  said  von  Jagow,  "the  German 
Government  cannot  withhold  its  conviction  that  the  ship  tor- 
pedoed by  the  German  submarine  is  in  fact  identical  with  the 
Sussex,  for  in  accordance  with  this  material  the  place,  the  time, 
and  the  effect  of  the  explosion  by  which  the  Sussex  was  dam- 
aged agree  in  the  essential  details  with  the  statements  of  the 
German  commander,  so  that  there  can  no  longer  be  any  ques- 
tion of  the  possibility  of  two  independent  occurrences."  Un- 
doubtedly the  German  submarine  commander  thought  he  "was 
facing  an  enemy  warship." 

But  he  formed  his  judgment  too  hurriedly  in  establishing 
her  character  and  did  not,  therefore,  act  fully  in  accordance 
with  the  strict  instruction  which  called  on  him  to  exercise 
particular  care. 

"In  view  of  these  circumstances  the  German  Government 
frankly  admits  that  the  assurances  given  to  the  American  Gov- 
ernment" that  "passenger  vessels  were  not  to  be  attacked  with- 
out warning  has  not  been  adhered  to  in  the  present  instance." 
Therefore,  the  German  Government  expressed  "its  sincere 
regret  regarding  the  deplorable  incident  and  declares  its  readi- 
ness to  pay  an  indemnity."  The  note  closed  with  the  expres- 
sion of  a  "hope  that  the  American  Government  will  consider 
the  case  of  the  Sussex  as  settled  by  these  statements." 


PEEPAEEDNESS    AND    PACIFISTS 

WHILE  the  Department  of  State  was  busy  with  the  case  of 
the  Ancona,  Congress  assembled  and  listened  to  the  annual 
speech  of  the  President.  He  had  much  to  say  concerning  our 
policy  towards  Mexico;  fuller  justice  for  the  Philippines  and 
Porto  Rico;  a  great  merchant  marine;  more  revenue  that  we 
might  "pay  as  we  go" ;  a  commission  to  canvass  the  question 
of  proper  regulation  of  railroads;  and  the  mobilization  of  the 
resources  of  the  country,  and  asked  for  laws  for  the  punishment 
of  citizens  who,  "born  under  other  flags,  but  welcomed  under 
our  generous  naturalization  laws  to  the  full  freedom  and  oppor- 
tunity of  America,"  had  "poured  the  poison  of  disloyalty  into 
the  very  arteries  of  our  national  life,"  and  sought  "to  destroy 
our  industries  wherever  they  thought  it  effective  for  their  vin- 
dictive purposes  to  strike  at  them  and  to  debase  our  politics 
to  the  uses  of  foreign  intrigue." 

But  the  portion  of  his  speech  which  aroused-  the  widest 
interest  was  that  in  which  he  asked  for  preparedness  for 
national  defense. 

No  one  who  understood  the  spirit  of  our  people,  he  said, 
could  fail  to  perceive  "that  their  passion  is  for  peace."  Great 
democracies  are  not  belligerent.  They  do  not  seek  or  desire 
war.  We  regard  war  merely  as  a  means  of  asserting  the  rights 
of  a  people  against  aggression.  We  will  not  maintain  a  stand- 
ing army  except  for  uses  as  necessary  in  times  of  peace  as 
in  times  of  war.  But  we  do  believe  in  a  body  of  free  citizens 
ready  and  sufficient  to  take  care  of  themselves  and  of  the  Gov- 
ernment they  have  set  up  to  serve  them.  But  war  has  never  been 
a  mere  matter  of  men  and  guns.  If  our  citizens  are  to  fight 
effectively  they  must  know  how  modern  fighting  is  done  and 
what  to  do  when  the  summons  comes,  and  the  Government 

230 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  231 

must  give  them  the  training  they  need  in  order  to  care  for 
themselves  and  it. 

With  these  ideas  in  rnind  plans  had  been  prepared  by  the 
Department  of  War  "for  more  adequate  national  defense," 
which  Congress  was  urged  "to  sanction  and  put  into  effect  as 
soon  as  they  can  be  properly  scrutinized  and  discussed." 

The  President  would  have  the  standing  force  of  the  regular 
army  increased  from  108,013  officers  and  men  to  141,843,  rank 
and  file,  and  supplemented  by  "a  force  of  400,000  disciplined 
citizens  raised  in  increments  of  133,000  a  year  throughout  a 
period  of  three  years."  The  men  should  be  volunteers  and  bind 
themselves  to  serve  with  the  colors  for  two  months  during 
each  of  the  three  years  for  purpose  of  training.  Their  three 
periods  of  training  over,  they  would  be  required  to  serve  three 
years  more  on  furlough  and  be  ready  to  join  the  colors  at  call 
at  any  time.  "At  least  so  much  by  way  of  preparation  for 
defense  seems  to  me  to  be  absolutely  imperative  now.  We  can- 
not do  less,"  said  the  President. 

Turning  to  preparedness  in  the  navy,  the  President  con- 
tinued, we  have  always  looked  to  it  "as  our  first  line  of  defense, 
we  have  always  seen  it  to  be  our  manifest  course  of  prudence 
to  be  strong  on  the  sea."  His  plan,  therefore,  called  for  the 
building  within  five  years  of  ten  battleships,  six  battle  cruisers, 
ten  scout  cruisers,  fifty  destroyers,  fifteen  fleet  submarines, 
eighty-five  coast  submarines,  four  gunboats,  one  hospital,  two 
ammunition,  two  fuel  oil  ships,  and  one  repair  ship.  There 
should  be  7,500  sailors,  2,500  apprentice  seamen  and  1,500 
marines  added  to  the  personnel  of  the  navy  and  at  least  300 
midshipmen  to  the  Academy  at  Annapolis.  Authority  should 
be  given  to  appoint  for  engineering  duty  only  graduates  of 
engineering  colleges,  and  for  service  in  the  aviation  corps  a 
certain  number  of  men  taken  from  civil  life. 

As  the  two  Houses  settled  down  to  the  routine  business  of 
the  session  the  effect  of  the  President's  appeal  for  national 
preparedness  for  defense  and  his  attack  on  disloyal  citizens 
born  under  other  flags  than  ours  became  quickly  apparent. 
Senator  Kenyon  offered  a  resolution  that,  whereas  it  was  appar- 
ent from  the  President's  speech  that  he  desired  revenue  to  bo 
raised  for  an  elaborate  system  of  national  defense,  and  the  gen- 


232      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

eral  welfare  of  the  United  States  had  been  imperiled  by  the 
manufacture  and  shipment  of  munitions  of  war  in  large  quan- 
tities to  foreign  nations,  and  the  policy  of  preparedness  advo- 
cated by  the  President  had  been  made  necessary,  if  at  all,  by 
the  irritation  caused  to  other  nations  by  the  shipment  of  arms 
and  munitions  of  war;  and  whereas  a  few  manufacturers  of 
arms  and  munitions  had  made  enormous  profits  thereby,  and 
the  country  none  at  all ;  and  whereas  prosperity  based  on  profits 
from  the  making  of  instrumentalities  to  kill  people  could  not  be 
a  lasting  prosperity,  justice  required  that  those  making  huge 
profits  should  pay  the  expenses  made  necessary  by  their  gains ; 
therefore,  taxation  should  be  laid  on  arms  and  munitions  of 
war  to  such  an  extent  as  to  produce  sufficient  revenue  to  pay 
for  preparedness. 

Senator  Gore  introduced  two  bills.  One  prohibited  belliger- 
ent vessels  from  transporting  American  citizens  as  passengers 
to  or  from  ports  in  the  United  States;  and  American  and 
neutral  vessels  from  carrying  American  citizens  and  contra- 
band of  war  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The  other  forbade 
the  issuance  of  passports  for  use  on  vessels  of  a  belligerent 
country.  Under  existing  laws,  both  national  and  international, 
the  Senator  said,  every  American  citizen  has  the  legal  right 
to  travel  on  any  passenger  vessel  that  sails  the  seas.  He  has 
the  legal,  not  the  moral  right,  to  run  the  risk  of  involving  this 
nation  in  war  and  causing  the  sacrifice  of  millions  of  lives  and 
billions  of  treasure.  So  long  as  the  legal  right  exists  it  must 
be  defended,  at  whatever  cost,  for  our  Government  cannot 
suffer  the  rights  of  its  citizens  to  be  invaded  with  impunity. 
He  believed  this  right  should  be  suspended.  Great  Britain 
during  the  Russo-Japanese  War  had  warned  her  subjects  to 
keep  off  belligerent  ships.  Here  was  a  precedent ;  but  we  had 
one  of  our  own  making,  for  the  President  had  ordered  Ameri- 
can citizens  to  abandon  their  homes  and  business  and  leave 
Mexico. 

Senator  Lodge  now  applied  to  the  Legislative  Reference 
Division  of  the  Library  of  Congress  for  information  as  to 
when  the  British  Government  warned  its  subjects  not  to  travel 
on  belligerent  ships.  The  reply  was  that  the  statement  orig- 
inated in  a  letter  from  a  C.  L.  Schlens,  published  in  the  New 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  233 

York  Sun,  July  30,  1915.  The  British  consulate  at  Shanghai, 
China,  during  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the  writer  said,  issued 
this  notice:  "All  subjects  of  the  Crown  are  notified  that  the 
British  Government  will  not  undertake  to  be  responsible  for 
the  safety  of  any  British  subject  leaving  this  port  on  a  ship 
of  either  of  the  belligerent  nations."  August  7,  1915,  this 
notice  under  the  heading,  "An  English  Precedent  for  Wilson," 
was  copied  and  commented  on  by  the  Gaelic  American;  found 
its  way,  accredited  to  the  Gaelic  American,  into  a  book  pub- 
lished in  Richmond  and  entitled,  "Documents  on  the  War  of 
Nations,  by  C.  L.  Droste" ;  appeared  in  The  Fatherland  of 
February  16,  1916,  under  the  heading  "The  Warning,"  and 
finally  in  the  Outlook.  The  British  Embassy  was  now  applied 
to  for  information,  inquired  of  the  Foreign  Office,  and 
answered  that  the  statement  was  untrue.  The  Foreign  Office 
had  never  heard  that  any  consular  office  had  ever  issued  such 
a  notice.  If  so,  it  acted  contrary  to  instructions  never  to  give 
advice  to  merchants  or  other  persons.  No  such  name  as  C.  L. 
Schlens  appeared  in  the  New  York  City  Directory  for  1915.1 

On  another  day  Mr.  Gardner  in  the  House  declared  there 
were  three  groups  of  persons  who  opposed  preparedness, 
pacifists,  cotton  kings,  who  sought  to  cut  off  ammunition  from 
Great  Britain  because  she  cut  off  their  cotton  from  Germany, 
and  German-Americans  who  said :  "American  helps  the  Allies, 
so,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  by  laws  or  by  strikes,  by  torpedoes  or 
by  mines,  by  gold  or  by  dynamite,  we  will  do  everything  we 
can  to  prevent  the  ammunition  reaching  the  Allies."  To  tnis 
Mr.  Longworth  of  Ohio  indignantly  replied  and  said  that  in 
purity  of  motives,  in  lawfulness  of  acts,  the  German-Americans 
were  the  peers  of  any  body  of  American  citizens,  and  the  House 
applauded. 

From  the  legislature  of  Georgia  now  came  a  joint  resolu- 
tion approving,  and  pledging  it  to  support,  the  principles  for 
practical  and  adequate  preparedness  urged  by  the  President 
in  his  Manhattan  Club  speech.  Any  plan  of  preparedness 
ought  to  include  economic  development  of  the  country. 
Georgia,  therefore,  called  attention  to  the  importance  of  her 
great  water  power,  and  objected  to  the  concentration  of  muni- 

1  Congressional  Record,  64th  Congress,  1st  Session,  pp.  3514-3516. 


tion  plants  along  the  coast  from  Connecticut  to  Virginia. 
Senator  Owen  offered  a  resolution  authorizing  the  President 
to  invite  the  nations  of  the  world  to  send  delegates  to  meet 
in  Washington,  in  May,  1916,  in  conference  to  make  more 
certain,  and  properly  declare,  the  rules  of  international  law 
and  propose  the  means  of  enforcing  them.  Each  nation  should 
have  one  vote  for  each  5,000,000  of  its  inhabitants,  tmt  none 
should  have  more  than  twenty. 

From  all  parts  of  the  country,  from  all  sorts  of  societies, 
associations,  organizations,  leagues,  from  Farmers'  Unions, 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  religious  bodies,  from  Workers' 
Unions,  and  from  the  legislatures  of  Rhode  Island  and  Vir- 
ginia which  sent  instructions  to  their  Senators,  came  petitions 
for  and  against  an  embargo  on  the  export  of  arms  and  muni- 
tions. One,  from  The  Organization  of  American  Women  for 
Strict  Neutrality,  with  headquarters  at  Baltimore,  presented 
by  Senator  Kenyon  on  January  27,  1916,  was,  he  told  the 
Senate,  fifteen  and  a  half  miles  long  and  bore  the  signatures 
of  a  million  men  and  women,  inhabitants  of  every  State  in  the 
Union.  It  was  brought  from  Baltimore  in  a  huge  moving 
van,  was  composed  of  a  thousand  rolls,  each  tied  with  red, 
white  and  blue  ribbon,  and  was  carried  into  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber in  twenty  clothes  baskets.  The  signers  declared  they  pro- 
tested, for  humane  reasons,  against  the  exportation  from  our 
country  of  "the  things  that  kill,"  for  the  use  of  nations  engaged 
in  the  present  conflict.  To  sell  arms  and  munitions  to  the 
belligerents  might  be  legally  right,  but  was  morally  wrong; 
while  an  embargo  on  the  exportation  of  arms  was  both  legally 
and  morally  right,  and  was  supported  by  precedent.  Presi< 
dent  Taft  had  forbidden  the  export  of  arms  to  Mexico  in  1912, 
President  Wilson  had  followed  his  example  in  1913,  and  Great 
Britain  and  Germany  had  not  allowed  munitions  to  be  exported 
during  our  war  with  Spain. 

Of  all  the  workers  for  an  embargo  on  the  exportation  of 
arms  and  munitions,  the  most  active,  persistent  and  effective 
was  the  German  organization  known  as  the  American  Embargo 
Conference  at  Chicago.  How  it  worked  was  made  known  to 
the  Senate  one  day  in  April,  1916,  by  Senator  Husting,  of 
Wisconsin.  "I  have  here,"  he  said,  "some  letters  and  tele- 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  235 

grains  sent  to  me  which  I  think  might  be  of  interest  to  the 
Senate,  and  to  the  people.  I  want  first  to  offer  about  one  thou- 
sand letters  which  I  received  some  time  in  February,  and  ask 
to  have  the  Secretary  read  one  of  them.  They  are  all  iden- 
tical." The  letter,  signed  by  a  German,  was  from  Montello,  Wis- 
consin, under  date  of  February  9,  1916.  "I  am  addressing  this 
appeal  to  you,  as  my  representative  in  the  upper  house  of  Con- 
gress, to  support  the  resolution  placing  an  embargo  upon  the 
further  shipment  of  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  belligerent 
nations  of  Europe.  ...  I  would  point  out  to  you  that  the 
large  majority  of  the  Wisconsin  Congressional  delegation  is  in 
favor  of  the  embargo  resolution,  .  .  .  and  I  feel  that  these 
men  are  convinced  that  their  constituents  want  an  embargo, 
and  with  this  the  situation  in  our  State  I  respectfully  request 
that  you  will  give  the  embargo  your  support." 

To  show  the  source  of  the  thousand  similar  letters  the 
Senator  then  had  read  a  letter  not  addressed  to  him  but  for- 
warded by  one  who  had  received  it.  It  was  a  circular  letter 
sent  out  by  the  American  Embargo  Conference  from  Chicago, 
dated  February  9,  1916,  and  asked  if  the  receiver  would  not 
"join  with  us  in  the  effort  being  made  to  induce  United  States 
Senator  Paul  O.  Husting,  of  your  State,  to  join  with  practi- 
cally all  the  other  members  of  the  Wisconsin  Congressional 
delegation  in  the  work  of  bringing  about  such  an  embargo. 

''Believing  that  you  feel  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our 
members  that  the  United  States  should  at  least  have  no  hand 
in  the  war,  and  should  not  be  reaping  a  harvest  of  blood- 
stained money,  and  that  you  stand  for  a  real  and  genuine  neu- 
trality for  this  nation,  we  are  sending  you  with  this  letter  some 
letters  addressed  to  Senator  Husting. 

"They  are  ready  to  be  dated  and  signed  and  should  then  be 
placed  in  separate  envelopes  and  mailed  as  personal  letters." 

!NTo  attention  was  paid  to  them  at  that  time;  but  in  April 
the  State  Department  was  exchanging  notes  with  Germany  on 
the  Sussex  incident,  the  country  was  aroused,  and  there  came 
to  Senator  Husting  a  flood  of  telegrams,  from  New  York,  Mary- 
land, Ohio,  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  places  in  Wisconsin  hun- 
dreds of  miles  apart,  all  dated  April  24,  1916,  and  drafted 
according  to  one  or  another  of  seven  forms.  One  form  read: 


236     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"Your  constituents  urge  and  expect  you  to  stand  like  a  rock 
against  the  passing  frenzy  of  insane  and  cruel  folly  on  the 
part  of  the  small  portion  of  interested  persons  who  are  clamor- 
ing for  war.  We  want  peace.  Nothing  warrants  any  other 
action." 

Another  form  read:  "Will  you  let  me  assure  you  that  the 
great  majority  of  your  constituents  stand  for  peace,  believe 
war  now  unnecessary  and  uncalled  for,  and  will  resent  heing 
participated  into  the  European  conflict."  Scores  upon  scores 
in  this  form  coming  from  places  far  apart  contained  the  word 
"participated,"  showing  they  had  a  common  origin.  A  letter 
and  inclosure  from  a  constituent  to  Senator  Husting  proved 
they  all  originated  with  the  American  Embargo  Conference. 

The  letter  from  the  Conference  read: 

'Teeling  confident  that  as  one  of  the  patriotic  citizens  of  the 
United  States  you  are  anxious  to  see  this  country  held  out  of  the 
present  terrible  war  in  Europe,  we  are  making  this  extraordinary 
appeal  to  you  because  we  know  from  the  most  positive  information 
that  is  possible  to  be  obtained  at  this  time  that  the  situation  war- 
rants it. 

"We  cannot  find  words  strong  enough  to  tell  you  of  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  and  we  assure  you  in  the  most  earnest  manner  pos- 
sible that  the  only  way  in  which  this  country  can  keep  from  becoming 
involved  is  an  immediate  and  great  expression  of  the  real  sentiment 
of  the  people  of  the  country  who  want  peace. 

"We  also  most  solemnly  assure  you  that  it  is  too  late  to  mail  an 
expression  of  this  sentiment  to  Washington.  It  must  be  telegraphed. 
We  have  prepared  night  letters  to  be  signed  by  the  voters.  At  the 
top  of  this  sheet  we  ask  that  you  hold  tbese  sheets  until  we  give  you 
notice  to  telegraph  them.  Now  we  ask  that  you  have  the  night  let- 
ters signed  as  rapidly  as  possible  and  that  you  send  them  from  the 
telegraph  office  without  a  moment's  delay.  .  .  .  Then  send  the  bills 
to  us  and  a  check  will  be  mailed  you  immediately." 3 

Inclosed  in  this  letter  was  a  sheet  on  which  were  seven 
forms  of  night  letters,  from  which  had  been  selected  the  forms 
of  the  "two  or  three  hundred  thousand"  telegrams  received 
by  the  Senator.  Other  Senators  had  been  favored  in  the  same 
way.  A  Senator  from  Kansas  had  that  morning  received  35 
on  form  one;  2T  on  form  two;  15  on  form  three;  9  on  form 

*  Congressional  Record,  64th  Congress,  1st  Session,  p.  6891. 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  237 

four;  30  on  form  five,  and  20  on  form  six,  all  from  Kansas 
City.  Another  Senator  had  received  4,000. 

Well  aware  that  his  plan  would  he  bitterly  opposed  in  Con- 
gress, in  his  own  party  and  by  a  large  part  of  the  people,  espe- 
cially in  the  Middle  West,  the  President  in  January,  1916,  set 
forth  on  a  speaking  tour  that  he  might  in  this  way  explain  the 
need  of  national  preparedness  and  appeal  for  support  directly 
to  his  fellow  countrymen.  The  first  speeches  were  made  at 
New  York  City  on  January  27,  one  before  the  Clerical  Con- 
ference of  the  New  York  Federation  of  Churches,  another  be- 
fore the  Motion  Picture  Board  of  Trade,  and  the  third  before 
the  Railway  Business  Men's  Association. 

January  28,  the  President  set  off  on  his  tour  of  the  Middle 
West,  spoke  at  Pittsburgh  and  Cleveland,  and  on  the  thirty- 
first  reached  Milwaukee.  There  he  was  in  the  hotbed  of 
Socialism,  in  a  city  whose  population  was  largely  German- 
American  and  strongly  pro-German.  To  them  he  said: 

tel  know  that  you  are  depending  upon  me  to  keep  this  nation  out 
of  war.  So  far  I  have  done  so,  and  I  pledge  you  my  word  that,  God 
helping  me,  I  will — if  it  is  possible. 

'You  have  laid  another  duty  upon  me.  You  have  bidden  me  see 
that  nothing  stains  or  impairs  the  honor  of  the  United  States.  And 
that  is  a  matter  not  within  my  control.  That  depends  upon  what 
others  do,  not  upon  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does, 
and  therefore  there  may  be  at  any  moment  a  time  when  I  cannot  both 
preserve  the  honor  and  the  peace  of  the  United  States.  Do  not  exact 
of  me  an  impossible  and  contradictory  thing,  but  stand  ready,  and 
insist  that  everybody  who  represents  you  should  stand  ready,  to  pro- 
vide the  means  for  maintaining  the  honor  of  the  United  States/' 

From  Milwaukee  the  President  passed  to  Chicago  and 
Des  Moines,  where  he  said  to  the  crowd  that  gathered  to  hear 
him:  "America  cannot  be  an  ostrich  with  its  head  in  the  sand. 
America  cannot  shut  itself  out  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
because  all  the  dangers  at  this  present  moment,  and  they  are 
many,  come  from  her  contact  with  the  rest  of  the  world."  He 
had  not  come  to  tell  his  hearers  that  there  was  danger  to  our 
national  life  from  anything  the  Government  might  do,  but 
to  tell  them  that  "there  is  danger  to  our  national  life  from 
what  other  nations  may  do."  And  if  something  did  happen, 


•238     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"do  you  want  the  situation  to  be  such  that  all  the  President 
can  do  is  to  write  messages,  to  utter  words  of  protest  ?  If  these 
breaches  of  international  law  which  are  in  daily  danger  of 
occurring  should  touch  the  very  vital  interests  and  honor  of 
the  United  States,  do  you  wish  to  do  'nothing  about  it  ?  Do 
you  wish  to  have  all  the  world  say  that  the  flag  of  the  United 
States,  which  we  all  love,  can  be  stained  with  impunity  ?" 

At  Davenport  the  President  denied  that  munition  makers 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  policy  of  the  Government.  At 
Kansas  City  he  said  "there  may  come  a  time,  I  pray  God  it 
may  never  come,  but  it  may,  in  spite  of  everything  we  can  do, 
come  upon  us,  and  come  of  a  sudden,  when  J  shall  have  to  ask, 
'I  have  had  my  say,  who  stands  back  of  me?'  Where  is  the 
force  by  which  the  majority  and  rights  of  the  United  States 
are  to  be  maintained  and  asserted?" 

"I  have  seen  editorials  written  in  more  than  one  part  of 
the  United  States  sneering  at  the  number  of  notes  that  were 
being  written  from  the  State  Department  to  the  foreign  Gov- 
ernments and  asking,  'Why  does  not  the  Government  act  ?'  And 
in  those  same  papers  I  have  seen  editorials  against  the  prepara- 
tion to  do  anything  effective  if  those  notes  are  not  regarded. 
Is  that  the  temper  of  the  United  States?" 

When  St.  Louis  was  reached  the  tour  came  to  an  end. 
There  the  President  said :  "So  far  as  America  is  concerned,  no 
man  need  go  about  preaching  peace.  We  are  disciples  of  peace 
already.  But  suppose  my  neighbor's  house  is  on  fire,  and 
my  roof  is  of  combustible  shingles,  and  the  fire  eats  into  the 
wood?"  The  danger  was  not  from  within,  but  from  without. 
"And  I  am  bound  to  tell  you  that  danger  is  constant  and  imme- 
diate, not  because  anything  new  has  happened,  not  because 
there  has  been  any  change  in  our  international  relationship 
within  the  last  several  weeks  or  months,  but  because  the  danger 
comes  with  every  turn  of  events."  Commanders  of  submarines 
had  their  instructions;  but  one  reckless  commander  of  a  sub- 
marine, putting  his  own  construction  on  what  his  Government 
told  him  to  do,  "might  set  the  world  on  fire."  .  .  .  "Speaking 
with  all  solemnity,  I  assure  you  there  is  not  a  day  to  be  lost. 
.  .  .  This  month  should  not  go  by  without  something  decisive 
being  done." 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  239 

The  return  of  the  President  to  Washington  was  quickly 
followed  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Lindley  M.  Garrison,  Sec- 
retary of  War.  Since  the  opening  of 'the  year  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs  had  been  busy  on  a  bill  for  national 
defense.  Hearings  had  been  held,  experts  had  testified,  and 
though  they  differed  on  many  points,  agreed  that  the  military 
power  of  the  country  should  be  greatly  increased  at  once.  As 
to  what  should  be  the  strength  of  the  Regular  Army  differences 
in  opinion  were  slight.  But  great  differences  existed  as  to  the 
character  of  the  force  by  which  it  was  to  be  supported.  Gen- 
eral Scott,  Chief  of  Staff,  was  for  a  continental  army  raised 
according  to  the  plan  of  Secretary  Garrison  and  explained  by 
the  President  in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  Mr. 
Hay,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  and  the 
National  Guard  Association,  which  maintained  an  active  lobby, 
were  for  the  federalization  of  the  National  Guard.  Against 
this  plan  Mr.  Garrison,  January  12,  1916,  protested  in  a  letter 
to  the  President.  The  military  part  of  the  program  of  national 
defense,  he  said,  was  facing  a  critical  juncture.  Unless  the 
situation  was  dealt  with  promptly  and  effectively,  there  was 
no  hope  of  good  results.  Nothing  but  a  national  force  under 
exclusive  control  and  authority  of  the  National  Government 
would  be  effective.  The  plan  of  Mr.  Say  to  add  a  few  thou- 
sands to  the  strength  of  the  regular  army;  a  few  regiments 
of  artillery  to  that  branch  of  the  service;  abandon  the  idea  of 
a  federal  force  of  national  volunteers,  and  grant  direct  aid  to 
the  enlisted  men  and  officers  of  the  State  troops  would  never 
succeed.  The  issue  must  be  clearly  drawn.  It  had  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  number  of  men  or  with  the  way  of 
raising  them.  It  was  between  two  absolutely  different  systems. 
One  was  based  on  the  nation's  undertaking  on  its  own  respon- 
sibility to  raise  and  manage  the  national  troops.  The  other, 
the  system  in  use  ever  since  the  founding  of  the  Government, 
was  to  rely  on  the  States  to  do  this  thing  for  the  nation,  leaving 
the  Government  to  rely  on  a  military  force  it  does  not  raise, 
does  not  officer  and  does  not  control. 

The  President  replied,  in  substance,  that  he  was  ready 
to  abandon  the  plan  of  the  Secretary  for  a  continental  volun- 
teer force  and  accept  that  of  Mr.  Hay  for  a  Federalized  militia 


240     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

if  it  would  accomplish  the  desired  result.  Mr.  Garrison  then, 
January  14,  1916,  restated  his  position  briefly  and  forcibly, 
and  January  17  the  President  replied  that  he  understood  his 
views.  "You  believe,  as  I  do,  that  the  chief  thing  necessary 
is  that  we  should  have  a  trained  citizen  reserve,  and  that  the 
training,  organization  and  control  of  that  reserve  should  be 
under  immediate  Federal  direction.  But  apparently  ,1  have 
not  succeeded  in  making  my  own  position  equally  clear  to  you, 
though  I  feel  sure  that  I  have  made  it  perfectly  clear  to  Mr. 
Hay.  It  is  that  I  am  not  irrevocably  or  dogmatically  com- 
mitted to  any  one  plan  of  providing  the  nation  with  such  a 
reserve,  and  am  certainly  willing  to  discuss  alternative 
proposals." 

The  President  returned  from  his  western  tour  on  Febru- 
ary 4.  Mr.  Garrison  was  to  speak  on  preparedness  on 
February  10,  and  lest,  in  urging  his  plan,  he  should  be  acting 
contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  President,  he  wrote  again  on 
February  9,  restated  his  position  and  asked  from  the  Presi- 
dent a  final  expression  of  his  views.  There  were  two  matters 
of  pressing  importance  on  which  in  the  course  of  his  speech 
he  must  positively  and  definitely  declare  himself.  One  was 
the  Clarke  amendment  to  the  Philippine  bill.  The  other  was 
the  question  of  a  continental  army  or  a  Federalized  militia. 
He  considered  reliance  on  militia  for  national  defense  an 
unjustifiable  imperiling  of  the  nation's  safety.  Not  only  was 
it  a  sham  in  itself,  but  if  enacted  into  law  would  prevent, 
perhaps  destroy,  the  opportunity  to  obtain  measures  of  real 
national  defense.  He  could  neither  accept  it,  nor  acquiesce 
in  its  acceptance.  If  the  President  did  not  agree  with  him 
on  these  matters,  then  he  could  not  with  propriety  remain  the 
seeming  representative  of  the  administration  in  respect  to  them. 

The  President  answered  and  said  that  he  was  not  yet 
convinced  that  the  Hay  plan  would  prove  acceptable;  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  keep  an  open  mind;  that  the  Clarke  amend- 
ment seemed  unwise  at  the  present  time,  but  it  would  be  most 
inadvisable  to  take  the  position  that  he  must  disapprove  "should 
both  houses  concur  in  a  bill  embodying  that  amendment." 
When  this  reply  reached  him  Mr.  Garrison  at  once  resigned, 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  241 

and  after  a  delay  of  a  few  weeks  Mr.  Newton  D.  Baker  became 
Secretary  of  War. 

Mr.  Garrison  resigned  on  February  10,  1916,  and  on  that 
day  Count  von  Bernstorff  and  Baron  Zwiedinek  appeared  at 
the  Department  of  State  and  announced  that  the  German 
and  Austro-Hungarian  Governments  woud  instruct  their  sub- 
marine commanders  that,  after  February  29,  they  were  to  treat 
armed  merchantmen  as  auxiliary  cruisers.  Secretary  Lansing 
some  weeks  before,  on  January  18,  addressed  an  informal  note 
to  the  representatives  of  the  Entente  Powers  in  Washington, 
urging  that  their  Governments  agree  to  disarm  merchant 
vessels. 

As  obtained  "from  a  European  correspondent"  and  pub- 
lished by  the  Chicago  Herald,  the  text  of  the  note  set  forth  that 
the  Government  was  deeply  interested  to  bring  to  an  end  the 
dangers  to  life  which  attended  the  use  of  submarines  for  the 
destruction  of  enemy  commerce.  Despite  the  appalling  loss 
of  life  among  noncombatants,  without  regard  to  age  or  sex, 
the  Secretary  did  not  think  that  a  belligerent  should  be  de- 
prived of  the  proper  use  of  submarines,  but  believed  that 
submarine  warfare  might  be  brought  within  the  general  rules 
of  international  law  and  the  principles  of  humanity  by  the 
adoption  of  a  formula  or  rule  which  would  appeal  to  the  sense 
of  justice  of  all  belligerents.  As  a  basis  for  such  a  rule  he 
suggested  that  a  noncombatant  had  a  right  to  traverse  the  seas 
on  a  merchant  ship  flying  a  belligerent  flag:  a  right  to  rely  on 
the  observance  of  the  rules  of  international  law,  a  right  to 
know  that  if  the  vessel  on  which  he  sailed  were  approached  by 
a  warship  of  another  belligerent  it  would  not  be  attacked  with- 
out being  ordered  to  stop.  When  so  ordered  by  an  enemy 
submarine  it  should  stop  immediately.  If,  after  the  order  to 
stop,  a  merchantman  attempted  to  resist  or  flee  it  might  be 
fired  on,  but  the  firing  should  end  when  the  vessel  ceased  to 
resist  or  flee.  If  impossible  to  put  a  crew  aboard  or  convey  the 
prize  to  port  it  might  be  sunk,  provided  crew  and  passengers 
had  been  removed  to  a  place  of  safety. 

The  Secretary  was  not  unmindful  of  the  obstacles  which 
would  be  met  with  by  the  submarine.  Prior  to  1915  commerce 
destroying  on  the  high  sea  had  been  done  by  cruisers  heavily 


242     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

armed,  and  international  law  allowed  merchantmen  to  carry 
arms  for  defense. 

This  right  of  merchantmen  ships  to  carry  guns,  he  said, 
"seems  to  have  been  predicated  on  the  superior  defensive 
strength  of  ships  of  war,  and  the  limitation  of  armament  to 
have  been  dependent  on  the  fact  that  it  could  not  be  used 
effectively  in  offense  against  enemy  naval  vessels,  while  it  could 
defend  merchantmen  against  the  generally  inferior  armament  of 
piratical  ships  and  privateers."  Submarines  had  changed  these 
relations.  They  depended  for  protection  on  their  power  of 
submerging  and  were  almost  defenseless  in  point  of  construc- 
tion. "Even  a  merchant  ship  carrying  a  small  caliber  gun 
would  be  able  to  use  it  effectively  for  offense  against  a  sub- 
marine." Pirates  and  sea  rovers  had  been  swept  from  the  great 
channels  of  trade  and  privateering  had  been  abolished.  Plac- 
ing guns  on  merchant  ships  in  these  days  of  submarines,  there- 
fore, must  be  in  order  to  render  the  merchantman  superior  in 
force  to  the  submarine,  and  to  prevent  warning,  visit  and 
search.  "Any  armament,  therefore,  on  a  merchant  vessel 
would  seem  to  have  the  character  of  an  offensive  armament." 
Under  such  conditions,  if  a  submarine  be  required  to  stop,  visit 
and  search  a  merchantman,  and,  if  necessary  to  destroy  her,  put 
her  passengers  and  crew  in  a  place  of  safety,  it  was  not  just 
to  require  her  when  so  doing  to  expose  herself  "to  almost  cer- 
tain destruction  by  the  guns  on  board  the  merchant  vessel." 

The  Secretary  ended  by  saying :  "I  may  add  that  my  Gov- 
ernment is  impressed  by  the  reasonableness  of  the  argument 
that  a  merchant  vessel  carrying  an  armament  of  any  sort,  in 
view  of  the  character  of  submarine  warfare  and  the  defensive 
weakness  of  undersea  craft,  should  be  held  to  be  an  auxiliary 
cruiser,  and  so  treated  by  a  neutral  as  well  as  by  a  belligerent 
government  and  is  seriously  considering  instructing  its  officials 
accordingly." 

It  was  in  hope  of  forcing  the  Allied  Government  to  reject 
this  note  that  Germany  and  Austria  bade  their  representatives 
serve  the  notice  of  February  10,  that  armed  merchant  ships 
would  be  treated  as  auxiliary  cruisers  and  sunk  on  sight  with 
passengers  and  crew  on  board,  and  that  on  February  14  Mr. 
Gerard  forwarded  from  Berlin  a  note  verbale  and  a  long 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  243 

"Memorandum"  on  the  treatment  of  armed  merchantmen. 
The  memorandum  was  accompanied  by  twelve  exhibits  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  a  digest  of  nineteen  cases  in  which  Allied  mer- 
chant ships,  it  was  claimed,  had  fired  on  submarines,  and  papers 
of  a  "confidential"  nature  found  on  two  captured  British  ships.. 
The  "German  Government,"  it  was  said,  "had  no  doubt  that 
a  merchantman  assumes  a  warlike  character  by  armament  with 
guns,  regardless  of  whether  the  guns  are  intended  for  defense 
or  attack."  Particular  attention  was  called  to  the  words 
"enemy  merchantmen  armed  with  guns  no  longer  have  any 
right  to  be  considered  as  peaceful  vessels  of  commerce."  There 
fore,  the  German  naval  forces  would  receive  orders,  within 
a  short  time,  to  treat  such  vessels  as  belligerents. 

"The  German  Government  brings  this  status  of  affairs  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  neutral  Powers,  in  order  that  they  may 
warn  their  nationals  against  continuing  to  intrust  their  persons 
or  property  to  the  armed  merchantmen  of  Powers  at  war  with 
the  German  Empire." 

The  controversy  now  shifted  from  the  Department  of  State 
to  the  Halls  of  Congress,  where  on  February  15  a  Senator  from 
South  Dakota  submitted  a  long  resolution.  In  substance  it  was 
that  the  Senate  viewed  with  anxious  concern  the  order  of  the 
German  Admiralty  that,  after  February  29,  armed  merchant 
ships  might  be  sunk  without  warning;  that  if  put  into  effect 
it  would  be  a  more  serious  menace  to  neutral  commerce  than 
any  act  of  the  belligerents  in  the  present  war ;  that  any  recogni- 
tion by  the  United  States  that  necessities  of  the  war  or  the 
exigencies  of  submarine  warfare  justified  the  order  would  be 
an  abandonment  of  our  contention  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas, 
and  a  contravention  of  our  policy  set  forth  in  our  notes  to  the 
British  and  German  Governments  on  September  26  and  No- 
vember 7,  1914,  and  that  at  this  time  neither  the  United  States 
nor  any  other  neutral  should  acquiesce  in  the  order.3 

The  resolution  was  submitted  under  the  belief  that  the 
closing  words  of  Secretary  Lansing's  note  of  January  18  stated 
the  intent  of  the  Government  to  accept  the  German  contention 
that  armed  merchantmen  should  be  considered  auxiliary 
cruisers.  But  on  February  15,  the  day  on  which  the  Senator 
"Congressional  Record,  64th  Congress,  1st  session,  p.  2564. 


244     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

submitted  his  resolution,  the  President  reversed  his  policy  and 
from  the  Department  of  State  came  a  semi-official  statement  of 
a  very  different  sort.  In  substance  it  was  that  the  Government 
did  not  expect  to  change  the  present  rule  of  international  law 
regarding  armed  merchant  ships  without  the  consent  of  all  the 
belligerents,  that  meantime  their  merchant  ships  had  a  lawful 
right  to  carry  arms  for  defense,  and  that  the  right  of  our  citi- 
zens to  travel  on  such  vessels  would  not  be  impaired. 

A  fear  of  war  with  Germany  now  fell  on  Congress,  a  deter- 
mination to  check  the  President  grew  stronger  and  stronger, 
and  all  signs  pointed  to  a  serious  break  between  the  Executive 
and  Legislative  branches  of  the  Government.  American  citi- 
zens, Congressmen  held,  should  be  forbidden  to  travel  on  armed 
ships  of  the  belligerents.  To  this  surrender  of  their  rights  the 
President  was  determined  not  to  submit,  and  at  a  conference 
with  the  Democratic  leaders  on  February  21  made  his  position 
quite  clear. 

Nevertheless,  on  February  22,  resolutions  were  introduced 
in  the  Senate  and  the  House.  That  offered  by  Mr.  McLemore, 
a  member  of  the  House  from  Texas,  was  preceded  by  a  long 
preamble  setting  forth  that,  whereas  two  of  the  Powers  at  war 
had  informed  all  neutrals  that  after  February  29  armed  vessels 
of  their  enemies,  naval,  or  merchantmen  armed  for  defense, 
would  be  attacked  on  sight;  that,  whereas  Germany  had  sub- 
mitted to  the  United  States  photographic  facsimiles  of  alleged 
secret  orders  of  the  British  Government  authorizing  such  de- 
fensive armament  to  be  used  for  offensive  purposes  and  manned 
by  naval  officers  and  men  and  concealed  and  disguised  when  in 
neutral  ports;  that,  whereas  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  no  desire  to  dictate  to  any  Power  whether  it  should 
or  should  not  arm  its  merchant  ships,  had  no  interest  in  the 
success  or  failure  of  such  ships  in  using  their  arms  to  destroy 
an  enemy's  submarines  or  naval  vessels,  had  no  concern  in  the 
success  or  failure  of  submarines  in  destroying  merchantmen  and 
could  not  look  on  any  engagement  between  any  armed  ships  of 
opposing  belligerents,  no  matter  how  such  ships  may  be  desig- 
nated or  disguised,  as  other  than  a  naval  engagement;  and, 
whereas  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  had  given  assurances 
that  unarmed  ships  carrying  noncombatants  would  not  be  sunk 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  215 

unless  the  noncombatant  passengers  could  be  removed  to  a  place 
of  safety. 

Therefore,  the  resolution  read,  "the  House  of  Representa- 
tives hereby  solemnly  does  request  the  President  to  warn  all 
American  citizens,  within  the  borders  of  the  United  States  or  its 
possessions,  or  elsewhere,  to  refrain  from  traveling  on  any  or 
all  ships  of  any  and  all  the  Powers  now  or  in  future  at  war, 
which  ship  or  ships  shall  mount  guns,  whether  such  ship  be 
frankly  avowed  a  part  of  the  naval  forces  of  the  Power  whose 
flag  it  flies,  or  shall  be  called  a  merchant  ship  or  otherwise, 
and  whether  such  gun  or  guns  or  other  armament  be  called 
'offensive'  or  'defensive,'  and  in  case  American  citizens  do 
travel  on  such  armed  belligerent  ships,  that  they  do  so  at  their 
own  risk." 

The  rest  of  the  resolution  provided  that  when  the  President 
or  Secretary  of  State  came  into  possession  of  the  "actual  memo- 
randum" of  the  German  Government  "concerning  the  secret 
orders  of  the  British  Government,"  it  should  at  once  be  sent 
to  the  Speaker  and  laid  before  the  House  to  assist  it  "in  per- 
forming its  constitutional  duty  of  advising  the  President  of 
the  United  States"  with  regard  to  foreign  relations. 

On  the  same  day,  February  22,  on  which  Mr.  McLemore 
introduced  his  warning  resolution,  Mr.  Fuller  of  Illinois 
brought  forward  another.  Because  it  was  "manifestly  unsafe" 
for  American  citizens  to  travel  "on  belligerent  ships  that  are 
armed,"  and  inasmuch  as  "the  taking  of  such  chances  at  this 
time  may  involve  this  country  in  serious  trouble  in  its  efforts 
to  protect  American  lives,"  and  as  it  was  the  "earnest  desire 
of  all  our  people  that  this  country  shall  remain  absolutely  neu- 
tral," therefore  the  President  was  to  be  "authorized  and  re- 
quested to  issue  a  proclamation  warning  all  American  citizens 
of  the  great  danger  of  taking  passage  on  any  belligerent  ship 
that  is  armed  or  that  carried  munitions  of  war,  and  requesting 
them  for  their  own  safety  and  in  the  interest  of  this  country's 
neutrality  to  refrain  from  so  doing." 

Both  resolutions  went  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs. 

The  day  following  their  introduction  was  one  of  wild  hys- 
teria in  Congress.  Suddenly  the  House  became  panic-stricken 
from  fear  that  the  new  position  of  the  President  would  lead  to 


246     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

war.  "Keep  out  of  war"  was  demanded  on  every  side.  The 
party  of  the  President  was  in  open  revolt.  In  the  cloakrooms, 
in  the  corridors,  on  the  floor,  the  President  was  bitterly  attacked 
for  his  determination  to  stand  firm  in  behalf  of  American 
rights  even  if  war  resulted.  Nothing  but  the  utmost  exer- 
tions of  the  administration  supporters  prevented  immediate 
action.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  Democratic  members  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  met  and  decided  to  send  a  dele- 
gation to  the  White  House  to  tell  the  President  that  a  resolu- 
tion warning  American  citizens  to  keep  off  armed  merchant, 
vessels  would  surely  be  passed  unless  he  changed  his  position. 
The  Democratic  floor  leader  was  reported  to  have  said  that 
forty-eight  hours  would  be  allowed  the  President  in  which  to 
make  this  change.  The  revolt  spread  even  to  the  Senate,  where 
Senator  Gore,  of  Oklahoma,  announced  that  he  would  introduce 
a  resolution  forbidding  Americans  to  travel  on  armed  merchant- 
men. 

That  the  position  taken  by  the  President  at  the  conference 
on  February  21  might  not  be  misunderstood,  Senator  Stone, 
Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  gave 
his  understanding  of  it  in  a  leter  to  the  President.  This  was: 

That  while  you  would  deeply  regret  the  rejection  by  Great  Britain 
of  Mr.  Lansing's  proposal  for  the  disarmament  of  merchant  vessels  of 
the  Allies,  with  the  understanding  that  Germany  and  her  Allies  would 
not  fire  upon  a  merchant  ship  if  she  hauled  to  when  summoned,  not 
attempting  to  escape,  and  that  the  German  warships  would  only  exer- 
cise the  admitted  right  of  visitation  and  capture,  and  would  not 
destroy  the  captured  vessel  except  in  circumstances  that  reasonably 
assured  the  safety  of  passengers  and  crew,  you  were  of  the  opinion 
that  if  Great  Britain  and  her  Allies  rejected  the  proposal  and  insisted 
upon  arming  her  merchant  ships  she  would  be  within  her  rights  under 
international  law.  Also  that  you  would  feel  disposed  to  allow  armed 
vessels  to  be  cleared  from  our  ports;  also  that  you  are  not  favorably 
disposed  to  the  idea  of  this  Government  taking  any  definite  steps 
towards  preventing  American  citizens  from  embarking  upon  armed 
merchant  vessels.  Furthermore,  that  you  would  consider  it  your  duty, 
if  a  German  warship  should  fire  upon  an  armed  merchant  vessel  of 
the  enemy  upon  which  American  citizens  were  passengers,  to  hold 
Germany  to  strict  account. 

Numerous  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  have  called  to  dis- 
cuss this  subject  with  me,  I  have  felt  that  the  members  of  the  two 
Houses  who  are  to  deal  with  this  grave  question  were  entitled  to 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  247 

know  the  situation  we  are  confronting  as  I  understand  it  to  be.  I 
think  I  should  say  to  you  that  the  members  of  both  Houses  feel 
deeply  concerned  and  disturbed  by  what  they  read  and  hear.  I  have 
heard  some  talk  to  the  effect  that  some  are  saying  that  after  all  it 
may  be  possible  that  the  program  of  preparedness,  so  called,  has  some 
relation  to  just  such  a  situation  as  we  are  now  called  upon  to  meet. 
I  have  counseled  all  who  talked  with  me  to  keep  cool;  that  the 
whole  business  is  still  the  subject  of  diplomacy  and  that  you  are 
striving  to  the  utmost  to  bring  about  some  peaceable  adjustment,  and 
that  in  the  meantime  Congress  should  be  careful  not  to  "ball  up"  a 
diplomatic  situation  by  any  kind  of  hasty  and  ill-considered  action. 
...  As  much  and  deeply  as  I  would  hate  to  radically  disagree  with 
you,  I  find  it  difficult  from  my  sense  of  duty  and  responsibility  to 
consent  to  plunge  this  nation  into  the  vortex  of  this  world  war. 

President  Wilson  that  same  day,  February  24,  replied: 
"You  are  right  in  assuming  that  I  shall  do  everything  in  my 
power  to  keep  the  United  States  out  of  war."  For  the  mo- 
ment the  announced  intention  of  the  Central  European  Powers 
to  sink  all  armed  merchant  vessels  at  sight  seemed  to  threaten 
"insuperable  difficulties."  But  the  apparent  meaning  of  the 
order  was  so  manifestly  at  odds  with  explicit  assurances  re- 
cently given  that  he  was  sure  later  explanations  would  "put  a 
different  aspect  upon  it." 

But  in  any  event  our  duty  is  clear.  No  nation,  no  group  of 
nations,  has  the  right,  while  war  is  in  progress,  to  alter  or  disregard 
the  principles  which  all  nations  have  agreed  upon  in  mitigation  of 
the  horrors  and  sufferings  of  war ;  and  if  the  clear  rights  of  American 
citizens  should  ever  unhappily  be  abridged  or  denied  by  any  such 
nation  we  should,  it  seems  to  me,  have  in  honor  no  choice  as  to  what 
our  own  course  should  be. 

For  my  part,  I  cannot  consent  to  any  abridgment  of  the  rights 
of  American  citizens  in  any  respect.  The  honor  and  self-respect  of 
the  nation  are  involved.  We  covet  peace  and  shall  preserve  it  at  any 
cost  but  the  loss  of  honor.  To  forbid  our  people  to  exercise  their 
rights  for  fear  we  might  be  called  upon  to  vindicate  them  would  be 
a  deep  humiliation  indeed.  It  would  be  an  implicit — but  not  an 
explicit — acquiescence  in  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  mankind 
everywhere  and  of  whatever  nation  or  allegiance.  It  would  be  a 
deliberate  abdication  of  our  hitherto  proud  position  as  spokesman 
even  amidst  the  turmoil  of  war  for  the  law  and  right. 

February  25  the  Speaker,  the  majority  leader  of  the  House 
and  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  met 


248     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  President  and  found  him  fully  determined  to  stand  by  the 
position  taken  in  his  letter  to  Senator  Stone.  Said  the  Speaker, 
in  a  statement  made  in  behalf  of  the  Democratic  leaders  who 
conferred  with  the  President:  "The  sum  and  substance  of  the 
conference,  outside  of  an  explanation  made  as  to  the  temper  of 
the  House,  regarding  the  diplomatic  situation  with  Germany 
and  some  argument  on  both  sides,  is  fully  set  out  in  Senator 
Stone's  letter  to  the  President  and  the  President's  reply  to 
Senator  Stone." 

We  explained  to  the  President  how  the  House  felt  in  our  judgment. 
I  told  the  President  that  this  warning  resolution  would  carry  two 
to  one  if  they  ever  got  a  chance  for  a  vote.  Some  enthusiastic  gentle- 
men, I  said,  thought  it  would  carry  three  to  one. 

Of  course  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  international  law 
regarding  the  rights  of  Americans  on  the  seas  and  precedents.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  conference  it  was  very  clear  to  all  that  the 
President  stands  on  his  letter  to  Senator  Stone. 

But  there  are  rumors  which  were  discussed  that  Germany  may 
postpone  enforcement  of  the  new  admiralty  order  to  sink  armed  ships, 
from  March  1,  either  to  April  1  or  the  middle  of  March.  I  think  the 
chances  are  that  Germany  will  postpone  this  threatened  performance. 
This  will  give  more  time  for  consideration  of  this  matter. 

In  the  House  the  President's  letter,  the  flood  of  telegrams 
that  poured  in  upon  members  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
demanding  that  he  be  supported,  the  belief  that  the  conduct 
of  the  House  on  the  previous  two  days  might  stiffen  the  atti- 
tude of  Germany,  all  contributed  to  produce  a  change  of  feel- 
ing and  greatly  lessen  the  chances  of  the  passage  of  a  resolution 
of  warning.  To  this  change  Mr.  Bryan  contributed  by  a 
telegram. 

I  honestly  hope  that  Congress  will  speedily  announce  legislation 
refusing  passports  to  Americans  traveling  on  belligerent  ships,  or  still 
better,  refusing  clearance  to  belligerent  ships  carrying  American 
passengers. 

No  owner  of  belligerent  ships  will  claim  that  he  has  the  right  to 
safeguard  a  contraband  cargo  with  American  lives,  and  no  citizen 
should  be  permitted  to  endanger  the  peace  of  the  nation  at  a  time 
like  this.  Ours  is  the  greatest  of  neutral  nations,  and  will  probably  be 
the  mediator  when  the  time  comes  for  mediation.  It  would  be  a  crime 
against  civilization,  as  well  as  against  our  own  people,  to  become 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  249 

involved  in  this  war,  and  thus  loan  our  army  and  money  to  a  European 
monarch  to  use  in  settling  his  quarrels. 

If  Congress  has  the  right  to  declare  war,  it  certainly  has  the  right 
to  promote  peace  by  restraining  citizens  from  taking  unnecessary 
risks.  A  mayor  keeps  the  people  of  his  city  out  of  the  danger  zone 
during  a  riot.  Can  oux  Government  afford  to  do  less  when  the  world 
is  in  riot? 

In  the  Senate  Mr.  Gore  offered  a  concurrent  resolution, 
that  it  was  the  sense  of  Congress,  "vested  as  it  is  with  the  sole 
power  to  declare  war,  that  all  persons  owing  allegiance  to  the 
United  States  should,  on  behalf  of  their  own  safety  and  the 
vital  interests  of  the  United  States,  forbear  to  exercise  the  right 
of  travel  as  passengers  upon  any  armed  vessel  of  any  belligerent 
Powfcr,  whether  such  vessel  be  armed  for  offensive  or  defensive 
purposes;  and  it  is  the  further  sense  of  the  Congress  that  no 
passport  should  be  issued  or  renewed  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
or  by  any  one  acting  under  him,  to  be  used  by  any  person  owing 
allegiance  to  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  travel  upon 
any  such  armed  vessel  of  a  belligerent  Power." 

Senator  Jones  in  the  course  of  the  day  offered  a  very  dif- 
ferent sort  of  resolution.  It  reads :  "That  it  is  the  sense  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  of  America  that  any  issue  claimed 
to  affect  the  national  honor  should  be  referred  for  its  deci- 
sion to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  no  ultimatum 
should  be  sent  to  any  belligerent  Power  and  no  severance  of 
diplomatic  relations  be  brought  about  by  Executive  action  until 
after  the  advice  and  consent  of  Congress." 

,In  London  the  President's  letter  found  hearty  approval. 
The  Times  was  pleased  to  note  that  he  stood  "immovably  true 
to  his  lofty  moral  attitude."  How  far  he  could  carry  with  him 
the  opinion  of  his  countrymen  wras  not  a  matter  for  specula- 
tion. Nevertheless,  he  deserved  credit  for  standing  manfully 
to  his  guns.  The  Post  remarked  that  "it  is  the  fate  of  America, 
whether  it  will  or  not,  to  make  a  choice  between  her  own  God 
and  Germany's  idols."  The  Chronicle  found  in  the  President's 
words  "the  right  ring."  He  had  "made  plain  to  the  whole 
world  that  the  United  States  is  unshakable  in  its  resolve  to 
reject  the  impudent  demands  of  Germany." 

How  the  President  viewed  tbe  uprising  in  Congress  was 


250     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

believed  to  be  made  clear  by  some  remarks  in  a  speech  before 
the  Gridiron  Club  of  Washington  on  the  evening  of  Febru- 
ary 26. 

"The  point  in  international  affairs,"  he  said,  "never  lies 
along  the  lines  of  expediency.  It  always  rests  in  the  field 
of  principle.  The  United  States  was  not  founded  upon  any 
principles  of  expediency ;  it  was  founded  upon  a  profound  prin- 
ciple of  human  liberty  and  of  humanity,  and  whenever  it  bases 
its  policy  upon  any  other  foundations  than  those  it  builds  on  the 
sand  and  not  upon  solid  rock."  He  would  "a  great  deal  rather 
know"  what  men  were  "talking  about  around  quiet  firesides 
all  over  this  country  than  what  they  are  talking  about  in  the 
cloakrooms  of  Congress.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  know  what 
the  men  on  the  trains  and  by  the  wayside  and  in  the  shops  and 
on  the  farms  are  thinking  about  and  yearning  for  than  hear 
any  of  the  vociferous  proclamations  of  policy  which  it  is  so 
easy  to  'hear  and  so  easy  to  read  by  picking  up  any  scrap  of 
printed  paper.  ,  .  . 

"America  ought  to  keep  out  of  this  war.  She  ought  to 
keep  out  of  this  war  at  the  sacrifice  of  everything  except  this 
single  thing  upon  which  her  character  and  history  are  founded, 
her  sense  of  humanity  and  justice." 

The  leaders  in  the  Senate  and  the  House  having  prevented 
any  action  on  the  resolutions  of  warning  before  them,  the 
President  on  February  29,  in  a  letter  to  the  ranking  member 
of  the  House  Committee  on  Rules,  urged  that  an  "early  vote" 
be  taken. 

"The  report  that  there  are  divided  counsels  in  Congress  in 
regard  to  the  foreign  policy  of  the  country,"  he  wrote  Mr. 
Pou,  "is  being  made  industrious  use  of  in  foreign  capitals. 
I  believe  that  the  report  is  false;  but  so  long  as  it  is  anywhere 
credited  it  cannot  fail  to  do  the  greatest  harm  and  expose  the 
country  to  the  utmost  serious  risk.  I  therefore  feel  justified 
in  asking  that  your  committee  will  permit  me  to  urge  an  early 
vote  upon  the  resolutions  with  regard  to  travel  on  armed  mer- 
chantmen, which  have  recently  been  so  much  talked  about,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  afforded  an  immediate  opportunity 
for  full  public  discussion  and  action  upon  them  and  that  all 
doubts  and  conjectures  may  be  swept  away  and  our  foreign 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  251 

policy  once  more  cleared  of  damaging  misunderstandings." 
What  the  President  wished  was  now  quite  clear.  He  did 
not  wish  a  vote  of  confidence,  but  a  direct  vote  on  the 
McLemore,  or  some  similar  resolution,  declaring  that  Ameri- 
cans ought  not  to  travel  on  armed  merchantmen.  He  wished 
every  member  of  the  House  to  go  on  record  when  the  vote  was 
taken  that  the  country  might  know  who  stood  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  who  sought  to  embarrass  it,  in  its  diplomatic  deal- 
ings with  Germany  and  Austria. 

Leaders  in  both  Houses  were  surprised  and  embarrassed. 
With  great  difficulty  they  had  a  few  days  before  prevented 
action  on  the  very  resolutions  they  were  now  asked  to  bring 
to  a  vote.  Conferences  were  held  with  the  President,  but  he 
did  not  yield,  and  March  3,  1916,  the  Senate  took  up  the  reso- 
lution offered  by  Senator  Gore  and  an  immediate  vote  was 
demanded.  Mr.  Gore,  rising  to  a  point  of  personal  privilege, 
then  offered  a  substitute  which  reads : 

Resolved  by  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives  concurring : 
That  the  sinking  by  a  German  submarine,  without  notice  or  warning, 
of  an  armed  merchant  vessel  of  her  public  enemy,  resulting  in  the 
death  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  would  constitute  a  just  and 
sufficient  cause  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  the  German 
Empire. 

But  the  Senate  leaders  in  their  haste  to  end  the  business 
forced  an  immediate  vote  on  both  resolutions  taken  together 
and,  amid  a  scene  of  great  confusion  and  disorder,  the  roll  was 
called  on  the  question  of  laying  the  resolutions  on  the  table. 
The  yeas  were  68;  the  nays  14,  and  the  motion  was  carried. 
Then  for  the  first  time  the  Senators  realized  that  in  their  haste 
they  had  tabled  a  resolution  declaring  that  if  a  German  subma- 
rine, without  warning,  sank  an  armed  merchantman  and  an 
American  citizen  thereby  lost  his  life,  the  act  would  be  a  just 
cause  of  war.  This  was  the  very  principle  for  which  the 
President  was  contending. 

As  soon  as  the  vote  in  the  Senate  was  known  in  the  House 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  voted  to  report  back  the 
McLemore  resolution  with  a  recommendation  that  it  be  tabled 
because,  "Under  the  practice  and  precedent  in  tnis  country, 


252     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  conduct  of  diplomatic  negotiations  has  heen  left  with  the 
President,  and  with  this  practice  the  committee  does  not  feel 
it  proper  for  the  House  of  Representatives  to  interfere.  We 
know  that  if  the  President  reaches  a  point  in  any  negotiations 
with  foreign  Governments  at  which  he  believes  he  has  exhausted 
his  powers  in  the  premises  he  will,  in  the  usual  way,  report 
all  facts  and  circumstances  to  Congress  for  its  consideration." 

March  7,  the  struggle  began  and  when  it  ended  with  the 
roll  call  on  the  question  of  agreeing  to  the  motion  to  lay  the 
McLemore  resolution  on  the  table  the  yeas  were  276  and  the 
nays  142. 

The  States,  all  of  whose  representatives  voted  no,  were 
Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Nebraska.  The  States,  all  of 
whose  representatives  voted  yes,  were  Maine,  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Idaho.  As 
far  as  Congressional  interference  was  concerned,  the  armed 
merchantmen  issue,  it  was  said,  was  settled.  There  were  those, 
indeed,  who  held  that  tabling  the  resolutions  was  not  decisive, 
and  among  these  was  Mr.  Bryan.  "The  question  was  presented 
in  such  a  way,"  he  said  to  an  audience  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  "that 
there  is  little  significance  in  the  vote.  It  does  not  represent 
the  sentiment  in  Congress  as  to  the  wisdom  of  Americans  trav- 
eling upon  belligerent  merchantmen.  Had  this  question  been 
presented  and  the  opinion  of  Congress  asked  upon  it,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  a  majority  of  both  Senate  and  House  would 
express  themselves  in  favor  of  preventing  Americans  from  trav- 
eling into  the  danger  zone  on  belligerent  ships." 

The  people,  taking  the  words  of  the  President,  that  he  would 
rather  know  what  men  were  saying  around  their  firesides  than 
what  was  said  in  the  cloakrooms  of  Congress,  as  an  invitation 
to  give  their  views,  now  sent  letters  and  telegrams  by_  thousands 
to  the  White  House  expressing  approval  of  his  stand  and  con- 
veying congratulations  on  his  victory. 

The  day  following  the  action  of  the  Senate  on  the  resolu- 
tion of  Senator  Gore,  March  4,  1916,  the  Chairman  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  reported  a  bill  "for 
making  further  and  more  effectual  provision  for  national  de- 
fense." As  explained  by  the  Chairman,  Senator  Chamberlain 
of  Oregon,  the  bill  provided  for  a  regular  army  of  178,000 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PACIFISTS  253 

men;  a  federal  volunteer  force  of  261,000  to  be  trained  for 
one  month  each  year  in  summer  camps,  a  strictly  federal  force 
not  under  the  control  of  Governors  of  the  States ;  a  f ederalized 
National  Guard  of  250,000  men;  officers'  reserve  corps,  and  a 
reserve  officers'  training  corps  composed  of  students  of  col- 
leges and  schools  where  military  training  was  given  the  boys. 
On  the  sixth  of  March  Mr.  Hay,  Chairman  of  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs,  presented  a  bill  providing  for  a 
regular  army  of  143,000;  a  f  ederalized  National  Guard  which 
in  five  years  would  number  400,000  men;  and  civilian  train- 
ing camps  from  which  would  come  another  100,000  trained 
fighting  men. 

While  the  bills  were  under  debate  our  countrymen  were 
given  a  fine  illustration  of  the  need  of  preparedness.  March  9, 
a  band  of  Villistas,  believed  to  be  acting  under  orders  from 
Villa,  crossed  our  Mexican  border,  entered  New  Mexico,  raided 
the  town  of  Columbus,  and  killed  eight  soldiers  and  nine 
civilians,  and  the  President  at  once  announced  that  troops 
would  be  sent  in  pursuit  of  Villa  to  capture  him  acd  end  his 
forays,  and  that  this  would  be  done  in  friendly  aid  of  the 
authorities  of  Mexico  and  with  scrupulous  respect  for  the  sov- 
ereignty of  that  republic.  Carranza  at  once  proposed  an  agree- 
ment under  which  the  military  forces  of  Mexico  should  be 
allowed  to  chase  bandits  or  outlaws  across  the  border  into  the 
United  States,  in  return  for  permission  for  the  military  forces 
of  the  United  States  to  cross  the  border  into  Mexico.  March  13, 
our  Government  agreed  to  the  proposal,  and  March  15  some 
12,000  men  under  General  Pershing  crossed  the  border.  Car- 
ranza on  March  17  protested;  complained  that  a  false  inter- 
pretation had  been  put  on  his  note  of  the  tenth;  that  no 
notification  had  been  given  to  the  Mexican  Government,  nor 
to  the  civil  and  military  authorities  of  the  region  through 
which  the  troops  were  to  pass,  and,  March  19,  refused  to  allow 
supplies  to  be  sent  over  the  Northwestern  Railway  to  General 
Pershing.  While  negotiations  dragged  along,  a  force  of 
Villistas  was  routed  by  American  cavalry  at  San  Geronimo, 
March  29 ;  fights  and  skirmishes  occurred  in  many  places  dur- 
ing April,  and  May  5  some  two  hundred  bandits  crossed  the 
border  and  attacked  Glenn  Springs,  Texas.  Again  the  Presi- 


254     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

dent  was  forced  to  act,  and  May  9  called  the  organized  militia 
of  Texas,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico  into  service,  and  sent  them 
with  4,000  regulars  to  the  border. 

With  this  illustration  of  our  means  of  defense  before  them, 
the  Senate  and  House  meanwhile  labored  on  their  bills  for 
preparedness.  March  23,  the  House  adopted  the  Hay  Bill. 
April  18,  the  Senate  returned  it  with  amendments  providing 
for  a  regular  army  on  a  peace  footing  of  250,000  men,  for  the 
construction  of  a  nitrate  plant  to  cost  $15,000,000,  and  for  the 
establishment  of  reserve  officers'  training  corps  at  universities, 
colleges  and  schools.  From  the  conferences  which  followed 
came  at  last  a  bill  providing  for  a  regular  army  of  186,000; 
a  federalized  National  Guard  to  number  425,000;  officers' 
reserve  corps  for  the  regular  army;  enlisted  reserve  corps  to 
supply  men  to  the  engineer,  signal  and  quartermaster  corps, 
medical  and  ordnance  departments;  and  reserve  officers'  train- 
ing corps  at  schools,  colleges  and  universities.  June  3,  the 
President  signed  the  bill. 


CHAPTER  X 

PLOTS    AND    CRIMES    ON    SEA   AND    LAND 

CONSIDERING  the  submarine  dispute  as  settled,  by  the  last 
of  the  Sussex  notes  the  German  Government  bade  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff  define  its  position  on  another  matter  fast  becom- 
ing serious,  the  violation  of  our  neutrality  by  its  consular  officers 
and  agents.  The  Ambassador  accordingly,  May  18,  1916, 
announced  that  the  German  Government  was  opposed  to  all 
plots  and  propaganda  leading  to  violation  of  our  laws  and 
our  neutrality. 

"In  consequence,"  he  said,  "of  cases  that  have  occurred 
of  late,  the  German  Ambassador  has  sent  instructions  to  all 
the  German  consuls  in  the  United  States  strongly  to  impress 
on  German  citizens  living  in  their  districts  that  it  is  their  duty 
scrupulously  to  observe  the  laws  of  the  states  in  which  they 
reside." 

German  consuls  needed  the  warning  quite  as  much  as  "citi- 
zens living  in  their  districts."  It  will  be  remembered  that  on 
December  22,  1915,  Captain  von  Papen  sailed  from  New  York 
on  the  Oscar  II.  All  went  well  with  him  until  the  steamer, 
January  2,  1916,  touched  at  Falmouth,  where  the  British 
seized  his  papers.  When  von  Papen,  according  to  the  man- 
aging editor  of  World's  Work,  was  about  to  depart  and  was 
packing  his  papers  in  the  office  of  the  Austrian  Consulate- 
General  in  New  York,  the  stenographer,  a  young  woman  placed 
in  the  office  by  the  Providence  Journal  as  its  secret  agent, 
reported  the  contents  of  the  box  and  was  instructed  to  so  mark 
the  case  that  it  could  be  identified  later.  "The  day  it  was 
nailed  up  for  shipment,"  so  runs  the  story,  "she  ate  her 
luncheon  seated  on  the  top  of  it.  When  she  was  in  the  midst 
of  her  meal  von  Papen  came  in.  He  asked  if  he  might  share 
her  sandwiches.  She  consented.  They  sat  on  the  loox  together. 

255 


256     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

He  grew  sentimental.  She  did  not  discourage  his  sentimental 
mood.  At  its  height  she  took  a  red  crayon  pencil  from  her 
hair  and  in  a  dreamy  way  drew  on  the  packing  box  the  outline 
of  two  hearts  entwined.  The  susceptible  von  Papen,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  moment,  seized  the  pencil  and  with  his  own  hand 
drew  an  arrow  piercing  them."  And  so  the  box  was  marked 
and  when  the  Oscar  II  touched  at  Falmouth  and  the  secret 
service  agents  inspected  the  cargo  the  box  was  easily  identified 
and  seized. 

Von  Papen  at  once  telegraphed  to  the  American  Embassy 
at  London  asking  the  American  Ambassador  to  request  the 
German  Ambassador  at  Washington  to  protest  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  because  the  British  authorities  had  opened  his 
private  papers.  They  were  found  to  consist  of  letters  from 
Germans  in  this  country  and  abroad,  bank  books,  check  books 
and  counterfoils  showing  some  five  hundred  items  of  expen- 
diture. 

Some  were  of  no  importance.  Others  were  records  of 
payments  to  German  spies  and  agents  in  our  country;  to  a 
spy  named  Kupferle,  who  killed  himself  in  a  British  prison; 
to  the  "War  Intelligence  Bureau,"  $2,300;  to  Werner  Horn, 
who  a  few  weeks  later  attempted  to  destroy  the  bridge  at 
Vanceboro,  $700;  to  the  German  consul  at  Seattle,  some  two 
weeks  before  the  explosion  at  that  city,  May  20,  1915,  $500. 
During  January,  1915,  von  Papen  received  from  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff  $6,400,  and  spent  $5,000. 

Among  the  letters  was  one  from  Baron  von  Meysenburg, 
the  German  consul  at  New  Orleans,  dated  December  4,  1915 : 

I  read  with  great  regret  that  the  fate  of  recall  has,  indeed,  over- 
taken you.  I  do  not  suppose  that  you  are  very  unhappy  at  being 
able  to  shake  the  dust  of  this  unfriendly  country  off  your  feet.  What 
chiefly  offends  me  is  that  in  always  giving  way  to  the  Government 
here  we  have  never  found  that  they  are  kindly  disposed  to  us.  That 
the  demand  for  your  recall  has  been  so  sudden  and  belated  throws 
an  interesting  light  upon  the  Government  here.  May  the  day  of 
reckoning  also  come  here,  and  our  Government  find  again  that  iron 
determination  with  which  alone  one  can  make  an  impression  on  this 
country. 

In  another  Dr.  F.  W.  Meyer  of  New  York,  expressing 
regret  at  his  departure,  said: 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         257 

I  had  occasion  yesterday  to  discuss  recent  events  with  some  Ger- 
mans. .  .  .  The  Austrian  note  is,  of  course,  matter  for  general  quiet 
enjoyment,  and  the  whole  business  can  scarcely  be  taken  tragically. 
The  President  this  time  has  talked  a  bit  too  big,  even  for  those  who 
blindly  support  him.  ...  It  is  not  surprising,  in  view  of  the  fictitious 
neutrality  of  the  President,  that  a  term  should  have  been  put  to  your 
work,  and  you  must  carry  back  with  you  the  knowledge  that  you  have 
done  your  duty  according  to  the  best  of  your  ability  as  long  as  it 
was  possible. 

I  gladly  comply  with  your  proposal  to  send  a  line  from  time  to 
time,  and  it  will  be  very  pleasant  to  receive  one  from  you  occasionally, 
especially  if  by  proposals  you  mean  such  as  could  be  discussed  with 
some  gentlemen  of  the  German  House  of  Columbia  University.  I 
am  keeping  an  eye  on  the  matter  especially  mentioned. 

A  letter  from  General  von  Bernhardi,  dated  April  9,  1915, 
says: 

I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  kindness  in  sending  me  a 
copy  of  the  New  York  Sim,  containing  my  two  articles.  I  am  glad 
to  hear  that  these  articles  will,  in  your  opinion,  have  a  good  effect 
so  far  as  that  is  at  all  possible  in  America.  .  .  . 

I  have  now  written  two  other  articles  for  America.  The  Foreign 
Office  wanted  the  first  of  these,  entitled  "Germany  and  England," 
distributed  in  the  American  Press.  The  other,  entitled  "Pangennan- 
ism,"  was  to  appear  in  the  Chicago  Tribune.  .  .  .  They  will  certainly 
have  some  sort  of  effect. 

I  wonder  [Dr.  Albert  from  San  Francisco  wrote,  without  date] 
if  our  Government  will  respond  in  a  suitable  manner.  In  my  opinion 
it  need  no  longer  take  public  opinion  so  much  into  consideration,  in 
spite  of  its  being  artifically  and  intentionally  agitated  by  the  Press, 
and  legal  proceedings,  so  that  a  somewhat  stiffer  attitude  would  be 
desirable,  though  naturally  quiet  and  dignified. 

Please  instruct  Mr.  Amanuensis  Igel  as  precisely  as  possible.  You 
will  receive  then  the  lomj-intended  report  of  experises  paid  through  my 
account  on  your  behalf. 

Photographic  copies  of  the  important  checks,  counterfoils 
and  letters  were  duly  sent  to  the  Department  of  State,  and  not 
long  afterwards  Horst  von  der  Goltz,  in  charge  of  a  Scotland 
Yard  detective,  arrived  in  New  York. 

From  a  British  White  Paper,  Cd  8232,  it  appears  that 
von  der  Goltz  arrived  in  England  from  Holland  November  4, 
1914,  "offered  information  on  projected  air  raids,  the  source 


.258 

whence  the  Emden  derived  her  information  as  to  British  ship- 
ping, and  how  the  Leipsic  obtained  her  coal  supplies."  He 
was  questioned,  detained,  sentenced  to  six  months'  imprison- 
ment with  a  recommendation  for  deportation,  for  failing  to 
register,  served  his  time  and  was  still  held  for  deportation 
when,  January  2,  1916,  von  Papen's  papers  were  seized  at 
Falmouth  and  among  them  was  found  a  check  dated  September 
1,  1914,  for  $200,  drawn  by  von  Papen  to  the  order  of  Bridge- 
man  Taylor,  under  which  name  von  der  Goltz  had  obtained  a 
false  passport  and  sailed  from  New  York  in  October,  1914, 
for  Germany  by  way  of  Italy. 

The  check  was  endorsed  in  the  handwriting  of  von  der 
Goltz  who,  when  it  was  shown  to  him,  willingly  acknowledged 
the  endorsement  was  his,  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  make  a 
voluntary  statement  in  writing  and  under  oath. 

This  confession,  very  long  and  very  full  of  detail,  begins 
with  an  account  of  how  at  the  opening  of  the  war  he  was 
relieved  from  service  with  a  brigade  of  the  Mexican  Army, 
made  his  way  to  New  York  and  met  Captain  von  Papen,  then 
engaged  with  Captain  Boy-Ed  in  concocting  a  scheme  to  invade 
Canada  with  a  force  recruited  from  reservists  in  the  United 
States,  and  how  when  this  failed  he  was  asked  by  von  Papen 
to  see  two  Irishmen  who  had  proposed  to  Captain  von  Papen 
to  blow  up  the  locks  of  the  canals  connecting  the  Great  Lakes, 
the  main  railway  junctions,  and  grain  elevators.  It  was  alleged 
that  by  those  means,  as  well  as  by  wholesale  distribution  of 
proclamations  intended  to  terrify  the  populace,  combined  with 
rumors  of  invasion  judiciously  circulated  in  the  Press,  a  panic 
would  be  created  in  Canada,  which  would  prevent  the  Dominion 
from  giving  aid  to  England. 

I  received  the  gentlemen  at  my  hotel,  the  men  bringing  with  them 
a  letter  of  introduction  written  by  Captain  von  Papen,  and  received, 
after  having  taken  them  to  my  room,  further  details  about  the  mat- 
ter, in  addition  to  maps  and  diagrams  showing  the  most  vulnerable 
points  of  the  different  canals. 

I  then  had  to  get  some  men  to  help  me  to  put  the  scheme  into 
execution,  but  engaged,  before  I  went  to  Baltimore,  only  one  man, 
Charles  Tucker,  alias  Tucsheimer,  who  had  also  some  conversation 
with  one  of  the  men  who  proposed  the  scheme. 

Receiving  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.   Luederitz,  consul  at 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND        259 

Baltimore,  who  was  to  aid  me  by  his  counsel,  I  went  there,  taking 
Tucker  with  me,  and  was  received  by  Mr.  Luederitz  at  the  consulate 
in  Baltimore.  He  evidently  had  been  informed  about  the  matter 
beforehand,  for  he  addressed  me  as  Major  von  der  Goltz,  although  my 
letter  of  introduction  was  written  in  favor  of  Mr.  Bridgeman  H.  Tay- 
lor. He  showed  very  much  interest,  and  besides  supplying  me  with 
a  revolver,  my  own  being  out  of  order  temporarily,  suggested  to  fur- 
nish me  with  a  passport  to  be  obtained  through  the  State  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  proving  me  to  be  B.  H.  Taylor,  in  order  that  I 
should  be  able  to  travel  safely.  He  also  proposed  to  me  to  make  use 
of  part  of  the  crew,  and  one  officer  of  a  G.  ship  at  that  time  in  the 
harbor,  and  furnished  me  with  his  visit  card,  at  the  back  of  which 
he  wrote  recommending  Major  von  der  Goltz,  or  something  to  that 
effect,  which  I  should  give  to  the  captain  of  the  ship.  While  I  was 
still  conversing  with  Mr.  Luederitz  the  captain  of  the  ship  was 
announced  by  a  clerk,  and  Mr.  Luederitz,  telling  the  clerk  to  bring 
the  gentleman  in,  introduced  me  to  the  captain  personally.  One  of 
the  clerks,  a  notary,  made  out  an  application  to  the  State  Depart- 
ment, Washington,  D.  C.,  for  a  passport  purporting  to  be  desired  by 
a  certain  B.  H.  Taylor.  All  information  given  in  this  passport  was 
fictitious.  It  was  arranged  that  this  passport  was  to  be  sent  to  Mr. 
Buck,  New  York,  who  was  to  deliver  it  to  me.  The  following  day, 
a  Sunday,  I  paid,  accompanied  by  Tucker,  a  visit  to  the  ship,  dined 
there,  and  selected  the  men  intended  to  be  used  in  the  enterprise 
personally.  The  captain  promised  me  to  pay  off  the  men  selected 
at  the  consulate  in  a  few  days  and  to  send  them  to  New  York,  under 
the  supervision  of  an  officer.  Everything  necessary  having  been 
agreed  upon,  I  left  for  New  York  to  report  there  to  Captain  von 
Papen.  Arrived  at  New  York,  I  selected  three  men  recommended  to 
me  and  acquainted  them  with  the  main  object  of  the  scheme. 

As  I  needed  money  to  furnish  these  sailors  with  necessaries,  Cap- 
tain von  Papen  gave  me  a  check  payable  to  Bridgeman  Taylor,  which 
check  I  had  cashed  through  the  agency  of  an  acquaintance,  Mr.  Stall- 
ford,  member  of  the  German  Club. 

The  men  arrived,  were  quartered  in  several  hotels,  but  on  my 
noticing  that  my  movements  were  being  watched,  I  sent  them  back 
to  make  the  detectives  think  the  enterprise  abandoned. 

I  told  Captain  von  Papen  that  it  would  be  more  easy  for  him  to 
supply  me  with  materials,  dynamite,  and  arms  cheaply,  on  account 
of  his  connections,  informing  him  that  I  could  not  get  those  materials 
except  at  a  prohibitive  price. 

Von  Papen  then  informed  me  that  Captain  Tauscher,  of  Krupp's 
Agency,  had  agreed  to  furnish  me  with  these  things,  and  told  me  to 
see  him  at  his  office. 

I  saw  Mr.  Tauscher,  and  he  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the 
DuPont  Powder  Company,  recommending  B.  H.  Taylor,  and  the 
company  supplied  me  with  an  order  to  the  bargee  in  charge  of  the 


260     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

dynamite  barges  lying  on  the  New  Jersey  side  near  the  Statue  of 
Liberty.  Captain  Tauscher  told  me  he  would  send  the  automatic 
pistols  by  messenger  to  Hoboken,  New  Jersey,  to  be  delivered  there 
to  one  of  my  agents  at  a  certain  restaurant,  as  he  would  be  liable  to 
punishment  if  he  delivered  them  in  New  York  without  having  seen 
my  permit.  The  reasons  why  I  did  not  apply  to  the  police  for  a  per- 
mit are  obvious. 

In  order  to  get  the  dynamite  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  hire  a 
motor-boat  at  a  place  near  146th  Street,  Harlem,  and  to  put  the 
dynamite  on  board  of  the  barge  in  suitcases.  After  returning  to 
the  station,  where  I  had  hired  the  boat,  I  went  in  a  taxicab,  having 
two  suitcases  with  me,  to  the  German  Club  to  see  von  Papen,  who 
told  me  to  call  for  the  generators  and  the  wire  again  at  the  club.  I 
took  the  dynamite  to  my  rooms,  where  I  kept  also  a  portion  of  the 
arms  packed  in  small  portmanteaus  ready  to  be  removed,  the  rest 
of  the  dynamite  and  arms  being  in  the  keeping  of  two  of  my  agents, 
one  of  which  was  Mr.  Fritzen,  discharged  from  a  Russian  steamer, 
where  he  had  acted  in  the  capacity  of  purser;  the  other  one  being 
Mr.  Busse,  a  commercial  agent,  who  had  lived  for  some  time  in 
England;  the  only  other  agent  I  employed  besides  C.  Covani,  who 
attended  to  me  personally,  Tucker  not  being  entrusted  with  any  of 
those  things. 

Two  or  three  days  afterwards  I  received  from  Captain  von  Papen 
at  his  rooms  at  the  club,  in  the  presence  of  Fritzen  and  Covani, 
generators  and  wire,  which  I  took  to  my  rooms  in  a  taxicab. 

After  some  days  spent  in  conferring  about  the  ways  in  which  we 
would  try  to  execute  the  orders  given  to  me,  we  started  from  Central 
Station,  New  York,  for  Buffalo,  Fritzen,  Busse,  and  Tucker  taking 
care  of  the  dynamite  and  arms,  Covani  attending  to  me. 

Arrived  at  Buffalo,  I  hired  rooms  at  198  Delaware  Avenue,  had 
the  dynamite  brought  there,  and  spent  some  days  trying  to  get 
information  about  the  precautions  taken  by  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment. Then  I  transported  myself  and  three  of  the  agents  to  Niagara 
Falls,  New  York,  September  15.  While  still  at  Buffalo  I  received  a 
telegram  sent  by  von  Papen  and  signed  "Steffens,"  informing  me  that 
John  Ryan,  lawyer,  had  money  and  instructions.  I  went  to  see  this 
man,  but  he  told  me  he  knew  nothing  whatever  about  the  matter. 
I  directly  sent  telegram  to  "Steffens"  asking  for  explanation.  Sep- 
tember 16,  received  answer,  "Ryan  got  money."  On  applying  to  the 
man  again  I  received  money,  but  no  instructions. 

Being  thrown  upon  my  own  discretion,  I  determined  to  recon- 
noiter  the  terrain  where  I  wanted  to  act  first,  but  to  do  nothing 
further  till  I  should  receive  orders. 

On  September  25,  received  notice  from  Ryan  to  come  to  Buffalo. 
Having  meantime  received  privately  information  that  the  1st  Cana- 
dian Contingent  had  left  Valcartier  Camp,  I  knew  that  I  should  be 
recalled,  the  object  of  the  enterprise  being  removed. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         261 

Without  waiting  for  recall  von  der  Goltz  returned  to  New 
York,  reported  to  von  Papen  and  in  October  sailed  for  Berlin 
by  way  of  Italy. 

All  this  was  made  known  to  the  Department  of  State  and 
von  der  Goltz,  in  charge  of  the  man  from  Scotland  Yard,  was 
sent  from  London  to  testify  before  the  Federal  Grand  Jury 
sitting  at  New  York.  He  arrived  March  28,  1916,  on  the 
Finland  and  within  three  days  Captain  Hans  Tauscher,  Charles 
Tucker,  J.  F.  Busse  and  Alfred  Fritzen  were  taken  into  cus- 
tody. April  17,  the  Federal  Grand  Jury  indicted  Captain 
Franz  von  Papen,  Tauscher  and  the  three  others  for  conspiring 
to  blow  up  the  Welland  Canal.  The  Assistant  District 
Attorney  at  New  York  explained  that,  so  long  as  von  Papen 
was  an  attache  of  the  German  Embassy,  it  was  not  possible 
to  bring  him  into  the  case.  But  now  that  he  was  out  of  the 
country  the  Government  could  take  action  so  that  if  he  ever 
returned  he  could  be  brought  to  book,  or  if  he  ever  entered 
England  or  France  or  any  other  country  with  which  we  had 
an  extradition  treaty  he  could,  after  the  war,  be  extradited. 

The  following  day,  April  18,  agents  of  the  Department  of 
Justice  went  to  60  Wall  Street,  New  York,  to  the  office  for- 
merly used  by  Captain  von  Papen,  arrested  Wolf  von  Igel, 
and  seized  his  papers.  Taken  to  the  Federal  Building,  he  tele- 
phoned to  von  Bernstorff,  who  demanded  his  release  and  the 
return  of  the  papers.  He  was  demanded  as  a  member  of  the 
Ambassador's  official  family  and  his  office  was  declared  to  be 
a  branch  of  the  Embassy  and  as  such  "extra-territorial."  But 
it  was  proved  that  the  office  was  not  rented  by  the  German 
Embassy,  but  by  a  private  person,  and  was  not  "extra-terri- 
torial." As  to  the  papers,  which  were  at  once  photographed, 
Mr.  Lansing  offered  to  return  such  as  von  Bernstorff  would 
identify  as  official  or  Embassy  records.  To  this  it  was  answered 
that  they  must  be  returned  without  condition,  that  the  Ambas- 
sador could  not  be  required  to  pass  on  them  individually  or 
collectively;  that  the  fact  that  they  were  in  the  possession  of  a 
diplomatic  attache  was  enough  to  make  them  immune;  that  to 
require  the  Ambassador  to  say  which  were  or  were  not  official 
papers  was  a  restriction  of  diplomatic  privilege.  In  the  course 
of  time  they  were  returned. 


262     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

In  May  of  1915  Franz  Bintelen  and  ten  others  had  placed 
incendiary  bombs  on  vessels  leaving  New  York  laden  with  food 
and  ammunition  for  the  Allies.  Nine  of  these  men  were  now 
put  under  arrest  charged  with  placing  "fire  bombs"  on  munition 
ships;  with  attempted  arson;  and  with  "acting  in  concert  with 
others"  in  the  manufacture  of  liquid  fire  bombs  and  placing 
them  in  sugar  bags  on  the  steamship  Kirk  Oswald  of  the  Fabre 
Line.  She  left  New  York  on  May  15,  1915,  caught  fire  at  sea 
when  on  her  way  to  Marseilles,  and  finally  put  into  a  French  port, 
where  two  unexploded  bombs  were  found  in  the  cargo  of  sugar. 
Ernest  Becker,  electrician  of  the  North  German  Lloyd  steam- 
ship Friedrich  der  Grosse,  and  Captain  von  Kleist,  Superin- 
tendent of  the  New  Jersey  Agricultural  and  Chemical  Works; 
the  Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Hamburg- American  Dock ; 
the  Superintendent  of  the  piers  of  the  Atlas  Line;  the  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Friedrich  der  Grosse;  three  assistant  engineers 
of  the  Hamburg-American  Line,  and  Walter  T.  Scheele,  head 
of  the  Chemical  Works  where  the  bombs  were  filled,  were  the 
men  in  question.  Scheele  was  a  fugitive,  but  the  rest  were 
indicted  on  April  28,  1916,  and  with  some  others  were  sen- 
tenced in  February,  1918,  to  two  years  and  a  half  in  the 
Atlanta  Penitentiary.  Scheele  fled  to  Cuba,  where  he  found 
refuge  aboard  a  German  vessel  interned  at  Havana;  but  when 
Cuba  entered  the  war  he  fled  again,  was  arrested,  and  in  March, 
1918,  was  brought  back  to  the  United  States. 

May  3,  superseding  indictments  were  obtained  for  Captain 
von  Papen,  Wolf  von  Igel,  Hans  Tauscher,  Alfred  Fritzen  and 
Constantine  Covani,  all  named  in  the  confession  of  von  der 
Goltz.  Karl  Tucker  and  Frederick  J.  Busse  were  mentioned 
as  co-conspirators,  but  were  not  indicted.  The  defendants  were 
charged  with  seeking  "the  obstruction  of  the  military  operations 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  the  furthering 
of  the  military  operations  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  by 
means  of  bombs,  dynamite  and  other  explosives  to  blow  up  and 
destroy  the  Welland  Canal,  a  Canadian  waterway." 

Karl  A.  Luederitz,  German  consul  general  at  Baltimore, 
was  the  next  to  be  indicted  for  procuring  the  false  passport 
for  von  der  Goltz.  At  the  same  time,  May  8,  an  indictment 
was  returned  charging  von  Igel,  Walter  Scheele,  and  Gustav 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         263 

Steinberg,  said  to  have  beeii  an  aid  to  von  Rintelen,  with  con- 
spiracy to  falsify  a  ship's  manifest  in  order  to  send  a  cargo  of 
oil  to  Germany.  Seven  hundred  and  twenty  bags  of  oil,  chemi- 
cally reduced  to  powder,  had  been  shipped  as  fertilizer. 

Fay,  Walter  Scholz  and  Paul  Deache  were  now  convicted 
and  sentenced,  Fay  for  eight  years,  Scholz  for  four  and  Deache 
for  two.  Four  months  later  Fay  escaped  from  the  prison  at 
Atlanta.  In  June  Captain  Tauscher  was  acquitted,  for  there 
was  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  knew  for  what  purpose  the 
dynamite  he  procured  for  von  der  Goltz  was  to  be  used. 

The  presidential  campaign  was  now  near  at  hand,  the  nomi- 
nating conventions  were  soon  to  assemble  and  the  part  the 
German-Americans,  the  hyphenates, -would  take  in  the  election 
was  a  matter  of  some  concern. 

At  the  close  of  May  a  meeting  of  German- Americans  was 
held  in  Chicago.  They  came  from  twenty-five  states  and  rep- 
resented business,  social,  and  political  organizations,  churches, 
and  the  German- American  Press  Association,  and  made  public 
a  statement  of  principles.  German- Americans  demanded  a  neu- 
trality of  the  sort  advised  by  Washington  in  his  Farewell 
Address ;  urged  a  foreign  policy  that  would  protect  "American 
lives  and  American  interests  with  equal  firmness  and  justice," 
condemned  "every  official  act  and  policy  which  shows  passion- 
ate attachment  for  one  belligerent  nation  or  inveterate  antip- 
athy for  another,"  deplored  all  utterances  "by  officials,  ex- 
officials  and  others  .designed  to  create,  or  tending  to  create,  a 
division  along  racial  lines  among  our  people,"  and  hoped  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  conventions  would  nominate  candi- 
dates who  would  subscribe  to  these  views. 

Reports  from  the  West  announced  that  an  organization 
backed  by  the  German-American  Newspaper  Association  was 
giving  notice  that  voters  of  German  extraction  would  support 
neither  Wilson  nor  Roosevelt,  and  would  not  hear  of  Root.  In 
a  speech  at  St.  Louis,  Mr.  Roosevelt  reviewed  these  reports  and 
attacked  the  German-American  Alliance  as  anti-American.  "I 
am  happy  to  say  that  it  denounces  me  a  little  more  bitterly  than 
it  has  denounced  Mr.  Wilson  or  Mr.  Root.  The  German- 
American  Alliance  of  Pennsylvania,  for  instance,  as  reported 
in  the  public  press,  states  that  it  intends  to  show  the  leaders 


264     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

of  the  national  conventions  that  they  have  to  deal  with  a 
united  German-American  vote.  Such  a  statement  represents 
moral  treason  to  the  Republic.  ...  I  want  to  serve  notice  on 
these  men  that  our  purpose  next  fall  is  to  elect  an  American 
President  and  not  a  viceroy  of  the  German  Kaiser.  .  .  .  What- 
ever defects  I  have,  I  do  not  pussyfoot.  If  an  English- 
American  Alliance  were  formed  I  would  say  it  is  anti-American 
just  as  I  say  the  German-American  Alliance  is  anti- American." 

On  Flag  Day,  June  14,  1916,  the  President  marched  at  the 
head  of  a .  "preparedness  parade"  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Wash- 
ington Monument  delivered  a  speech,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  replied  to  the  threats  of  the  hyphenates  to  use  their  influ- 
ence against  the  Administration  in  the  November  election. 
"There  is,"  he  said,  "a  disloyalty  active  in  the  United  States, 
and  it  must  be  absolutely  crushed.  Jt  proceeds  from  a  minor- 
ity, a  very  small  minority,  but  a  very  active  and  subtle 
minority.  It  works  underground,  but  it  also  shows  its  ugly 
head  where  we  can  see  it,  and  there  are  those  at  this  moment 
who  are  trying  to  levy  a  species  of  political  blackmail,  saying : 
'Do  what  we  wish  in  the  interest  of  foreign  sentiment  or  we 
will  wreak  our  vengeance  at  the  polls.'  That  is  the  sort  of 
thing  against  which  the  American  Nation  will  turn  with  a 
might  and  triumph  of  sentiment  which  will  teach  these  gen- 
tlemen once  for  all  that  loyalty  to  this  flag  is  the  first  test  of 
tolerance  in  the  United  States." 

Outside  the  Betsy  Ross  house  in  Philadelphia,  the  house 
where  many  believe  the  first  American  flag  was  made,  Dr.  C.  J. 
Hexamer,  President  of  the  National  German-American  Alli- 
ance, repudiated  the  charge  that  the  hyphenates  were  anti- 
American,  denounced  those  who  raised  the  anti-hyphenate  cry, 
and  called  all  those  who  attacked  the  political  integrity  of 
German- Americans  criminals. 

While  the  President  was  speaking  at  Washington  the  Demo- 
cratic National  Nominating  Convention  was  holding  its  open- 
ing session  at  St.  Louis.  Not  content  with  an  expression  of 
his  own  feeling  towards  the  hyphenates,  the  President  insisted 
that  a  plank  strongly  American  and  anti-German-American 
should  be  put  in  the  platform.  It  was  badly  needed,  for  the 
Chairman,  when  opening  the  session,  made  a  strong  pacifist 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         265 

peace-at-any-price  speech.  The  plank,  it  was  reported,  would 
denounce  individuals  or  alliances  seeking  to  embarrass  the 
Government  in  its  relations  with  foreign  powers,  and  condemn 
any  political  party  that  changed  its  policy  for  fear  of  the 
hyphenate  votes.  When  finally  adopted  the  plank  summoned 
"all  men  of  whatever  origin  or  creed  who  would  count  them- 
selves Americans  to  join  in  making  clear  to  all  the  world  the 
unity  and  consequent  power  of  America.  .  .  .  We  condemn  as 
subversive  of  this  nation's  unity  and  integrity  the  activities  and 
designs  of  every  group  or  organization  that  has  for  its  object 
the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  a  foreign  power,  or  which 
is  calculated  and  tends  to  divide  our  people  into  antagonistic 
groups.  We  condemn  all  alliances  and  combinations  of  indi- 
viduals in  this  country,  of  whatever  nationality  or  descent,  who 
agree  and  conspire  together  for  the  purpose  of  embarrassing  or 
weakening  our  Government,  or  of  improperly  influencing  or 
coercing  our  public  representatives  in  dealing  or  negotiating 
with  any  foreign  power.  .  .  .  We  condemn  any  political  party 
which,  in  view  of  the  activity  of  such  conspirators,  surrenders 
its  integrity  or  modifies  its  policy." 

In  the  Republican  platform  were  these  words :  "We  appeal 
to  all  Americans,  whether  naturalized  or  native  born,  to  prove 
to  the  world  that  we  are  Americans  in  thought  and  in  deed, 
with  one  loyalty,  one  hope,  one  aspiration." 

Our  relations  with  Great  Britain  during  the  first  half  of 
the  year  1916  were  complicated  by  the  arrival  of  the  Appam, 
the  censorship  of  the  mails  and  the  publication  of  a  "black- 
list." February  1,  the  British  steamer  Appam,  captured  by 
the  German  sea  raider  Moewe,  entered  Newport  News  in  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Berg,  of  the  Imperial  Navy,  having  on 
board  the  crews  of  seven  enemy  vessels.  Ambassador  von  Berns- 
torff  at  once  notified  the  Department  of  State  that  she  would 
stay  in  an  American  port  until  further  notice,  because  she  "has 
not  been  converted  into  an  auxiliary  cruiser,  is  not  armed  and 
has  made  no  prize  under  Mr.  Berg's  command."  1 

Besides  the  crews  of  the  seven  captured  vessels,  there  were 
on  board  passengers  taken  from  the  prizes,  "a  locked-up  mili- 

1  Special  Supplement  to  the  American  Journal  of  International  Lawt 
Vol.  10,  October,  1916. 


266     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

tary  party  of  the  enemy  whose  internment  in  the  United  States 
I  request."  The  crew  of  the  Appam,  he  asserted  had  offered 
resistance  by  training  the  guns  on  the  Moewe,  were  therefore 
to  be  looked  on  as  combatants,  and  should  also  be  interned  until 
the  end  of  the  war. 

The  British  Ambassador  claimed  that  if  the  Appam  were 
regarded  as  a  prize  she  should  be  given  back  to  her  owners  and 
the  crew  interned,  and  cited  Article  21  of  The  Hague  Conven- 
tion XIII,  of  1907.2  Great  Britain,  it  was  true,  had  not  rati- 
fied this  rule,  but  it  should  be  applied  to  the  Appam.  If 
ordered  out,  the  British  Embassy  was  confident  "that  she  will 
not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  United  States'  jurisdiction  under 
German  control  in  a  condition  which  would  enable  her  to  under- 
take offensive  action." 

Ambassador  von  Bernstorff,  under  instruction  from  Berlin, 
now  claimed  that  Article  21  was  not  binding,  as  Great  Britain 
had  not  ratified  it,  and  that  under  Article  10  of  the  old  Prusso- 
American  treaty  of  1799, 3  the  Appam,  as  a  prize,  might  remain 
in  American  water  as  long  as  she  pleased. 

Mr.  Lansing  promptly  ruled  that  all  aboard,  save  the  prize 
crews,  should  be  allowed  to  leave  and  they  went  ashore.  The 
British  and  African  Steam  Navigation  Company,  Limited,  now 
filed  a  libel  against  the  Appam,  and  Lieutenant  Berg  was  sum- 
moned to  appear  before  the  United  States  District  Court  for 
the  Eastern  District  of  Virginia.  In  view  of  the  treaty  of  1799 
Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  was  "at  a  loss  to  understand  why 

*  Article  21.  "A  prize  may  only  be  brought  into  a  neutral  port  on  ac- 
count of  unseaworthiness,  stress  of  weather,  or  want  of  fuel  or  provisions. 
It  must  leave  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  which  justified  its  entry  are 
at  an  end.  If  it  does  not,  the  neutral  power  must  order  it  to  leave  at 
once;  should  it  fail  to  obey,  the  neutral  power  must  employ  the  means 
at  its  disposal  to  release  it  with  its  officers  and  crew  and  to  intern  the 
prize  crew." 

Article  22  required  a  neutral  to  "release  a  prize  brought  into  one  of 
its  ports  under  circumstances  other  than  those  referred  to  in  Article  21." 

'Article  19  provides:  "The  vessels  of  war,  public  and  private,  of  both 
parties,  shall  carry  freely,  wheresoever  they  please,  the  vessels  and  ef- 
fects taken  from  their  enemies,  without  being  obliged  to  pay  any  duties, 
charges,  or  fees  to  officers  of  admiralty,  of  the  customs,  or  any  others; 
nor  shall  such  prizes  be  arrested,  searched,  or  put  under  legal  process, 
when  they  come  to  and  enter  the  ports  of  the  other  party,  but  may  freely 
be  carried  out  again  at  any  time  by  their  captors  to  the  places  expressed 
in  their  commission  which  the  commanding  officer  of  such  vessel  shall  be 
obliged  to  show." 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         267 

such  action  has  been  taken  by  a  court  of  your  country."  Arti- 
cle 21  of  The  Hague  Convention,  he  wrote,  did  not  apply. 
Besides,  the  sovereign  whose  officers  had  captured  a  vessel 
remained  in  possesion  of  that  vessel  and  had  full  power  over 
her.  He,  therefore,  protested  against  the  action  of  the  Court 
and  requested  that  the  Attorney  General  procure  the  dismissal 
of  the  libel.  Article  19  of  the  treaty  of  1799,  Secretary 
Lansing  answered,  applied  only  to  prizes  brought  in  by  vessels 
of  war.  The  Appam  was  not  accompanied  by  a  ship  of  war, 
but  came  alone  in  charge  of  a  prize  master  and  crew.  Arti- 
cle 19  also  provided  that  capturing  vessels  might  take  out  their 
prizes  "to  the  places  expressed  in  their  commissions."  The 
commission  of  Lieutenant  Berg  was  that  of  a  prize  master  and 
directed  him  "to  bring  the  Appam  to  the  nearest  American 
port  and  'there  to  lay  her  up.' '  The  treaty  contemplated  "tem- 
porary asylum  for  vessels  of  war,  accompanying  prizes  while 
en  route  to  the  places  named  in  the  commander's  commission, 
but  not  the  deposit  of  the  spoils  of  war  in  an  American  port." 
As  to  whether  the  Court  had  or  had  not  jurisdiction,  that  was 
a  question  the  Court  must  decide.  July  29,  the  Judge  decided 
the  Court  had  jurisdiction,  "that  the  manner  of  bringing  the 
Appam  into  the  waters  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  her 
presence  in  those  waters,  constitutes  a  violation  of  the  neu- 
trality of  the  United  States"  and  restored  the  vessel  to  her 
British  owners.  The  case  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
where  in  March,  1917,  the  decision  was  sustained. 

Late  in  December,  1915,  reports  reached  the  Department 
of  State  that  British  customs  authorities  were  interfering  with 
the  mails.  From  the  Danish  steamer  Oscar  II  734  bags  of 
parcel  mail  were  removed  while  on  their  way  from  the  United 
States  to  Norway,  Sweden  and  .Denmark ;  from  the  Swedish 
steamer  Stockholm  58  bags  while  on  their  way  from  New  York 
to  Gothenburg;  from  the  Danish  ship  United  States  the  cus- 
toms authorities  at  Kirkwall  took  5,000  packages  of  merchan- 
dise, the  property  of  American  citizens;  from  the  Freder- 
ick VIII,  manifested  for  Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark,  597 
bags  of  parcel  mail,  and  from  the  Dutch  steamship  New 
Amsterdam  the  entire  mail,  American  diplomatic  and  consular 
pouches  included.  Against  all  this  Mr.  Page  was  instructed  on 


268     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

January  4,  1916,  to  enter  "a  formal  and  vigorous  protest." 
The  Department  was  "inclined  to  regard  parcel  post  articles 
as  subject  to  the  same  treatment  as  articles  sent  by  express  or 
freight  in  regard  to  belligerent  search,  seizure  and  condemna- 
tion." But  it  could  not  admit  the  right  of  Great  Britain 
to  seize  neutral  ships  on  their  way  from  neutral  European  ports 
to  ports  in  the  United  States,  bring  them  in,  and  while  in  port 
remove  and  censor  the  mails  they  carried. 

France  and  Great  Britain  replied  February  15,  1916,  in  a 
joint  memorandum.  In  no  wise,  they  held,  do  "parcels"  con- 
stitute "letters"  or  "correspondence"  or  "dispatches,"  and  are 
clearly  not  exempt  in  any  way  from  supervision,  visitation  and 
seizure  any  more  than  belligerent  cargoes  on  the  high  seas.  As 
regarded  letters,  wrappers,  envelopes  entrusted  to  the  postal 
service  and  generally  contained  in  the  mail  bags,  the  Allied 
Governments  "bring  the  following  consideration  to  the  notice  of 
the  Neutral  Governments."  Between  December  31,  1914,  and 
December  31,  1915,  German  or  Austro-Hungarian  naval 
authorities  sank  without  warning  thirteen  mail  ships  with  mail 
bags  on  board  coming  from  or  going  to  neutral  countries  with- 
out a  word  of  protest  from  any  neutral  Government.  Exami- 
nation of  the  mails  of  steamers  that  called  at  ports  in  the  allied 
countries  revealed  the  fact  that  in  the  wrappers,  envelopes  and 
mail  were  contraband  articles  much  sought  after  by  the  enemy. 
On  the  Turbantia  were  147^/2  pounds  of  india  rubber  and 
seven  parcels  of  wool,  and  on  the  Medan  seven  parcels  of  crude 
rubber,  worth  in  Germany  on  December  15,  1915,  twenty-five 
marks  per  kilog.  Enemy  traffic,  driven  from  the  sea,  "thus 
resorted  to  hide  in  mail  matter,  in  order  to  get  through,  all 
kinds  of  merchandise,  contraband  of  war  included,  apparently 
by  imposing  on  the  post-office  department  of  the  neutral 
states."  4  Hence  the  Allied  Governments  had  decided  that 
merchandise  shipped  in  post  parcels  "shall  not  be  treated  other- 
wise than  merchandise  shipped  in  any  other  way";  that  the 
inviolability  of  postal  correspondence  does  not  affect  the  right 
of  the  Allied  Governments  to  visit  and,  if  needs  be,  "arrest  and 
seize  merchandise  hidden  in  wrappers,  envelopes  or  letters  con- 

4  Special  Supplement  to  the  American  Journal  of  International  Law, 
Vol.  10,  pp.  402-409. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND        269 

tained  in  mail  bags" ;  and  that  in  future  they  will  refrain  from 
seizing  on  the  high  seas  genuine  correspondence,  letters  or  dis- 
patches and  will  forward  them  as  quickly  as  possible  after  "the 
sincerity  of  their  character  has  been  ascertained." 

A  pamphlet,  "The  Mails  as  a  German  War  Weapon,"  pub- 
lished in  London  some  months  later,  gives  some  account  of  what 
had  been  found  in  the  mails.  From  the  first  few  mails  that 
were  examined  over  3,000  packets  of  raw  rubber  were  seized 
on  their  way  to  Germany,  while  the  German  exports  inter- 
cepted comprised  jewelry,  drugs,  machine  needles,  violin 
strings,  in  short,  almost  every  article  Germany  could  afford  to 
export.  When  it  became  known  that  merchandise  sent  by  letter 
mail  was  not  to  pass  unmolested,  resort  was  had  to  every  sort 
of  subterfuge.  Thus,  the  wrapping  of  a  package  of  photographs 
when  examined  was  found  to  contain  a  bar  of  pure  nickel  in 
each  fluting  of  the  corrugated  paper  wrapper.  Packages  de- 
scribed as  containing  photographs  in  reality  contained  packed 
sheets  of  dental  rubber.  In  our  country  parcel  post  packages, 
for  Germany  during  two  weeks  in  April,  1915,  increased  from 
115  to  1,200  per  day.  All  sorts  of  food  except  meat  were  in 
them.  Department  stores  made  special  provisions  for  such 
shipments  and  furnished  airtight  containers. 

Search  of  the  mails  on  neutral  ships  voluntarily  entering 
British  waters  during  the  first  two  months  of  the  censorship 
resulted  in  the  seizure  of  securities  to  the  value  of  £2,000,000, 
and  of  checks,  drafts  and  money  orders  for  enemy  benefit 
amounting  to  well  over  £50,000,000. 

To  the  memorandum  of  February  15  the  Secretary  of  State 
replied,  on  May  24,  to  the  French  and  British  ambassadors  in 
notes  identical  in  language.  Despite  the  assurance  that  they 
would  refrain  from  seizing  and  confiscating  on  the  high  seas 
genuine  correspondence,  the  Allies,  he  complained,  now  seized 
and  confiscated  mail  from  vessels  in  port  instead  of  at  sea, 
or  forced  "neutral  ships  without  just  cause  to  enter  their  ports," 
or  "induced  shipping  firms  to  send  their  mail"  through  British 
ports,  or  "they  detain  all  vessels  merely  calling  at  their  ports," 
remove  all  mail  and  post  parcels,  take  them  to  London,  and 
there  open  and  critically  examine  every  piece  to  determine 
"the  sincerity  of  their  character,"  arid  finally  forward  "the 


270     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

expurgated  remainder,"  often  after  irreparable  delay,  to  its 
destination.  This  had  been  the  practice  since  the  announce- 
ment of  February  15,  which  seemed  to  be  "merely  notice  that 
one  illegal  practice  had  been  abandoned  to  make  way  for  an- 
other more  onerous  and  vexatious  in  character." 

"Important  papers  which  can  never  be  duplicated,  or  can 
be  duplicated  only  with  great  difficulty,  such  as  United  States 
patents  for  inventions,  rare  documents,  legal  papers  relating  to 
the  settlement  of  estates,  powers  of  attorney,  insurance  claims, 
income  tax  returns,  and  similar  matter  have  been  lost."  Busi- 
ness opportunities  were  lost  through  failure  to  transmit 
promptly  bids,  specifications,  contracts.  Checks,  drafts,  money 
orders,  securities,  were  lost  or  detained  for  weeks  or  months. 
In  the  opinion  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  mail 
matter  including  stocks,  bonds,  coupons,  money  orders,  checks, 
drafts,  notes,  was  to  be  considered  as  merchandise  and  subject 
to  the  same  exercise  of  belligerent  rights.  But  correspondence, 
shipping  documents,  money  order  lists,  and  papers  when  relat- 
ing to  enemy  supplies  or  exports  unless  carried  on  the  same  ship 
with  the  goods  referred  to  were  to  be  treated  as  "genuine  cor- 
respondence." The  Government  of  the  United  States  therefore 
"could  no  longer  tolerate  the  wrongs  which  citizens  of  the  United 
States  have  suffered."  Only  a  "radical  change  in  the  present 
British  and  French  policy  will  satisfy  this  Government."  So 
strongly  was  the  censorship  resented  that  when  Congress  passed 
the  General  Revenue  Act  of  September  8  a  provision  was  in- 
serted that  whenever,  during  a  war  in  which  the  United  States 
was  not  engaged,  the  President  is  satisfied  that  in  any  bellig- 
erent country  American  citizens,  ships,  firms,  companies,  or 
corporations  are  not  given  "any  of  the  facilities  of  commerce, 
including  the  unhampered  traffic  in  mails  which  the  vessels  or 
citizens,  firms,  companies  or  corporations  of  that  belligerent 
country  enjoy  in  the  United  States  or  its  possessions,"  he  is 
authorized  to  deny  the  citizens  and  corporations  of  such  bellig- 
erent country  the  use  of  the  United  States  mails,  telegraph, 
wireless  or  cables. 

October  12,  the  French  and  British  Governments  replied  in 
another  memorandum,  but  conceded  none  of  the  contentions 
made  by  Mr.  Lansing. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         271 

One  of  the  objects  of  the  examination  of  the  mails  stated 
in  the  little  pamphlet  "The  Mails  as  a  German  War  Weapon," 
was  the  detection  of  "plots  hatched  by  our  enemies  in  their  own 
or  in  neutral  countries."  These  were  revealed  by  "letters  rela- 
tive to  and  furthering  the  perpetration  of  acts  of  violence,  in- 
cendiarism and  sabotage  in  the  United  States,"  and  "letters  con- 
taining enemy  propaganda."  |In  this  latter  class  was  a  great 
mass  of  "scurrilous  leaflets  and  pamphlets"  dispatched  to  our 
country  to  be  reforwarded  to  British  territory  for  the  purpose 
of  fostering  disloyalty  and  rebellion  in  the  Empire.  Tons  of 
such  propaganda  leaflets  and  pamphlets  found  in  the  mails 
were  "destroyed  each  week  or  sold  as  paper  waste." 

Just  at  the  time  Mr.  Lansing  wrote  his  notes  of  protest 
rumors  became  current  that  Germany  was  about  to  reopen  trade 
in  much  needed  articles  by  means  of  submarine  merchantmen. 

From  reliable  sources,  the  report  said,  it  is  learned  that  a 
regular  submarine  merchant  service  is  about  to  be  established  be- 
tween Hamburg  and  New  York,  and  the  first  under  sea  liner 
will  be  due  at  Quarantine,  New  York,  about  July  4.  She  would 
carry  mail,  parcel  post,  express  matter  and  perhaps  a  few  pas- 
sengers and  would  be  armed  for  defense  but  not  for  attack.  An 
American  shipping  man  just  from  Hamburg  brought  the  news. 
Nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  boat  for  a  month,  when  Lloyds 
Weekly  announced  that  a  German  submarine  was  carrying  a 
message  from  the  German  Emperor  to  the  President.  A  dis- 
patch from  Madrid  confirmed  this  rumor  and  fixed  the  date  of 
arrival  at  New  York  as  June  25.  Another  from  Baltimore 
announced  that  the  submarine  was  off  the  mouth  of  Chesapeake 
Bay,  that  she  was  loaded  with  dyestuffs  and  medicine,  chiefly 
aspirin,  and  that  her  return  cargo  of  nickel  and  rubber  was 
already  awaiting  her  on  the  pier  of  the  Eastern  Forwarding 
Company  at  Locust  Point. 

This  report  was  true  in  substance,  but  not  until  July  8  did 
the  submarine  merchantman  Deutschland  arrive  off  the  Virginia 
Capes  and  make  her  way  to  Baltimore,  commanded  by  Captain 
Paul  Kb'nig.  She  left  Heligoland  on  June  23,  loaded  with 
dyestuffs,  but  carrying  no  money,  no  securities,  no  mail,  no 
guns,  and  after  a  run  of  sixteen  days  reached  port.  No  sooner 
had  she  come  than  both  the  British  and  French  Embassies 


272     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

called  attention  to  her  presence  and  asked  that  her  character  be 
investigated.  She  was  a  submarine.  No  such  type  of  craft 
had  ever  before  been  used  for  merchant  purposes.  Was  the 
submarine  of  her  size  and  build  to  be  considered  purely  an  in- 
strument of  naval  warfare  ? 

iln  the  opinion  of  the  Allies  any  submarine  was  a  vessel  of 
war.  She  could  not  be  treated  as  a  merchantman.  The  fact  that 
she  could  submerge  made  it  impossible  to  subject  her  to  the 
treatment  of  merchant  ships  as  required  by  international  law 
and  so  often  insisted  upon  by  the  United  States.  She  could  not 
be  stopped,  visited,  searched  and  the  character  of  her  cargo  de- 
termined. 

Who  were  her  real  owners  was  another  question  to  be  settled. 
Her  ship  papers  showed  that  the  Deutschland  was  owned  by  a 
Bremen  concern,  the  Deutsche  Ozean-Rhederei  Gesellschaft  mit 
Beschraenkter  Haftung,  that  is,  the  German  Ocean  Transporta- 
tion Company,  Limited.  Was  this  really  a  corporation  or  only 
the  German  Government  in  disguise  ?  What  was  the  status  of 
her  officers  and  crew  ?  The  Collector  at  Baltimore  reported  that 
the  Deutschland  had  no  guns,  was  manned  by  a  merchant  crew, 
carried  a  merchant  cargo,  was  not  a  warship.  Nevertheless, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  the  request  of  the  Department  of 
State  appointed  three  naval  officers  to  inspect  her.  They  found 
no  evidence  that  the  ship  was  armed  or  could  be  armed  without 
structural  changes  so  extensive  that  she  would  have  to  go  to  a 
ship  yard..  In  short  she  could  not  be  armed  at  sea. 

England  heard  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  Deutschland 
with  good  humor.  The  press  had  much  to  say  in  compliment  to 
Captain  Konig,  but  saw  <no  demonstration  of  the  weakness  of 
the  British  blockade.  We,  said  the  Manchester  Guardian,  are 
quite  ready  to  join  in  the  laugh  at  our  expense  and  applaud  the 
daring  of  the  Captain  who  appears  to  us  a  .good  sportsman.  We, 
said  the  Express,  can  honestly  congratulate  the  Captain  and  .his 
crew  in  having  given  the  world  cause  to  smile.  "America  is  to 
be  shown,  just  before  the  presidential  election,  that  the  block- 
ade can  be  broken  and  a  German  cargo  can  be  landed  in  the 
United  States  in  spite  of  the  British  Navy.  We  thank  the 
Kaiser  for  the  comic  relief  in  a  busy  week."  Other  journals 
did  not  think  the  success  of  the  Deutschland  showed  that  the 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         273 

blockade  was  ineffective,  but  rather  that  it  was  so  effective  that 
this  extraordinary  means  was  the  only  way  to  evade  it.  The 
fact  that  a  German  U-boat  had  really  reached  our  shores  we 
should  carefully  consider  in  view  of  the  repeated  warning  of 
the  Tirpitz  writers  that  America  was  not  too  far  away  for  Ger- 
many to  reach  her.  Though  the  Deutschland  carried  no  guns, 
she  was  none  the  less  a  threat  to  the  American  navy. 

Dispatches  from  Berlin  told  of  a  second  submarine,  the 
Bremen,  about  to  start  for  America,  and  of  others  nearing  com- 
pletion, and  of  a  weekly  service  soon  to  be  established.  But  the 
Bremen  never  came,  nor  did  the  Deutschland  leave  as  soon  as 
was  expected.  Supposing  her  stay  would  be  short,  great  sums 
were  offered  for  passage,  and  hundreds  of  letters  were  mailed 
with  the  request  that  they  be  sent  by  the  Deutschland.  Neither 
requests  were  granted  when  on  August  1  she  left  Baltimore 
on  her  voyage  home.  November  1,  she  came  again,  this  time 
to  New  London,  and  after  a  stay  of  twenty  days  departed  once 
more  for  Bremen. 

The  arrival  of  the  Deutschland  on  her  first  trip  and  the  de- 
cision of  the  Department  of  State  that  she  was  a  merchantman 
and  should  be  treated  as  such  brought  from  the  Allies,  Great 
Britain,  France,  Portugal,  Italy,  Russia  and  Japan,  memoranda 
identical  in  language,  insisting  that  submarines  were  to  be 
treated  as  vessels  of  war. 

Application  of  the  principles  of  international  law  to  sub- 
marines, they  said,  "offers  features  that  are  as  peculiar  as  they 
are  novel"  because  such  craft  could  navigate  and  sojourn  in  the 
seas  while  submerged  and  so  escape  detection;  because  it  was 
impossible  to  determine  their  national  character,  to  know 
whether  they  were  neutral  or  belligerent,  and  because  it  was  not 
possible  "to  put  out  of  consideration  the  power  to  do  injury 
which  is  inherent  in  their  very  nature."  Therefore  the  Allied 
Governments  held  that  submarines  should  be  deprived  of  the 
benefits  of  the  rules  of  international  law  "regarding  the  admis- 
sion and  sojourn  of  war  and  merchant  vessels  in  neutral  waters, 
roadsteads  and  harbors."  Any  submarine  of  the  belligerents 
that  once  enters  a  neutral  harbor  must  be  held  there. 

"The  Allied  Governments  take  this  opportunity  to  warn  the 
neutral  Powers  of  the  great  danger  to  neutral  submarines"  navi- 


274     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

gating  their  waters  visited  by  the  submarines  of  belligerents. 

Our  Government  expressed  its  surprise  at  the  seeming  at- 
tempt of  the  Allies  to  make  a  rule  for  the  treatment  of  sub- 
marines in  time  of  war,  and  to  enforce  its  acceptance  by  warn- 
ing neutrals  of  the  great  danger  to  their  submarines  in  waters 
visited  by  belligerent  submarines.  The  Government  knew  of 
no  circumstances  which  would  render  the  existing  rules  of  in- 
ternational law  inapplicable  either  to  war  or  merchant  sub- 
marines, and  reserved  its  liberty  of  action  in  all  respects.  That 
there  might  be  no  misunderstanding  as  to  its  attitude  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  would  say  to  the  Allied 
Governments  that  the  belligerent  Powers  were  in  duty  bound  to 
distinguish  between  submarines  of  neutral  and  belligerent  na- 
tionality, and  that  responsibility  for  any  conflict  between  bellig- 
erent warships  and  neutral  submarines  must  rest  entirely  on  the 
negligent  Power.4 

The  retaliatory  section  of  the  General  Revenue  Act  of  Sep- 
tember 8  was  intended  to  apply  to  another  form  of  British  in- 
terference with  neutral  trade.  From  the  opening  of  the  war 
Great  Britain  under  her  trading  with  the  enemy  act  had  for- 
bidden her  subjects  to  trade  with  an  enemy,  but  had  not  at- 
tempted to  interfere  with  trade  between  an  enemy  resident  in 
a  friendly  or  neutral  country  and  the  land  to  which  he  owed 
allegiance.  On  July  18,  1916,  however,  she  went  further,  made 
public  a  "blacklist"  of  eighty-three  firms  and  individuals  of 
enemy  nationality  or  associations,  resident  in  our  country,  and 
forbade  British  subjects  to  trade  with  them  under  the  same 
penalties  as  if  trading  with  the  enemy.  This  prohibition  it  was 
explained  applied  to  German  firms  with  head  offices  in  Ger- 
many; to  German  firms  incorporated  in  the  United  States  and 
technically  American ;  and  those  that  made  use  of  a  secret  code 
or  cloak  to  cover  the  fact  that  they  were  using  the  cables  in  the 
interest  of  the  enemy.  Mr.  Lansing  at  once  instructed  Mr. 
Page  to  protest.  The  "blacklist,"  he  said,  had  been  received 
with  "the  most  painful  surprise"  by  the  people  and  Government 
of  the  United  States.  It  seemed  to  be  an  arbitrary  interference 
with  neutral  trade  against  which  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Govern- 

*  Supplement  to  the  American  Journal  of  International  Law,  Vol.   10, 
October,  1916,  pp.  342-344. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         275 

merit  "to  protest  in  most  decided  terms."  British  steamships 
would  not  accept  cargoes  from  the  persons  and  firms  proscribed ; 
neutral  bankers  refused  them  loans;  neutral  merchants  would 
not  contract  for  their  goods,  fearing  a  like  proscription,  and 
steamship  lines  under  neutral  ownership  were  given  to  under- 
stand that  if  they  accepted  freight  from  the  "blacklisted,"  coal 
could  not  be  had  at  British  ports  and  they  might  themselves  be 
put  on  the  list.  Among  the  proscribed  were  American  firms,  im- 
porters of  foreign  products  or  distributors  in  foreign  lands  of 
American  products.  These  foreign  connections,  fostered  dur- 
ing many  years,  when  once  broken,  could  not  easily  be  resumed. 
All  such  citizens  of  the  United  States,  the  Government  begged 
to  remind  the  Government  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  were 
quite  within  their  rights  in  trading  with  the  people  of  any  of 
the  nations  now  at  war,  subject  to  the  well-known  and  well-de- 
fined rules  of  international  law.  For  breaches  of  blockade  when 
the  blockade  is  real  and  effective,  for  every  unneutral  act  by 
whomsoever  attempted  there  were  well-established  remedies  and 
penalties,  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  could 
not  consent  to  see  altered  or  extended  at  the  will  of  a  single 
Power  or  group  of  Powers.  That  neutrals  must  not  be  con- 
demned, nor  their  goods  confiscated,  save  on  fair  adjudication 
and  full  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  prize  court  or  elsewhere,  was 
a  just  and  honorable  principle  accepted  by  all  civilized  nations 
as  a  safeguard  of  the  rights  of  neutrals.  This  the  blacklist 
brushed  aside.  It  condemned  without  notice,  without  hearing 
and  in  advance.  Manifestly  the  United  States  could  not  ac- 
quiesce in  such  methods  of  punishment  of  its  citizens.  The 
Government  of  the  tlnited  States  had  no  intention,  no  inclina- 
tion to  shield  its  citizens  from  the  just  consequences  of  unneu- 
tral acts.  It  was  quite  willing  they  should  suffer  the  penalties 
which  international  law  has  sanctioned.  But  His  Britannic 
Majesty's  Government  could  not  expect  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  consent  to  see  its  citizens  put  upon  an  ex  parte 
blacklist  without  calling  attention  in  the  gravest  terms  to  the 
serious  consequences  such  an  act  must  entail. 

In  course  of  time  the  names  of  seven  firms  were  removed 
from  the  blacklist ;  but  vessels  were  blacklisted  and  British  sub- 


276     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

jects  forbidden  to  furnish  them  with  bunker  coal  or  handle  the 
goods  they  transported. 

October  10,  1916,  the  British  Goverment  made  a  long  reply. 

"The  trading  with  the  enemy  (extension  of  powers)  act, 
1915,"  Viscount  Grey  said,  "is  a  piece  of  purely  municipal  leg- 
islation which  provides  that  His  Majesty,  by  proclamation,  may 
prohibit  persons  in  the  United  Kingdom  from  trading  with  any 
persons  in  foreign  countries  who  might  be  named  in  that  procla- 
mation or  subsequent  order.  That  is  all."  The  Government 
neither  attempted  nor  claimed  to  lay  penalties  on  neutral  in- 
dividuals or  neutral  commerce.  The  measure  simply  bade  those 
owing  allegiance  to  Great  Britain  to  cease  trading  with  persons 
found  to  be  assisting  or  rendering  service  to  the  enemy.  "Neither 
the  rights  nor  property  of  the  persons  specified  is  interfered 
with,  condemned  or  confiscated;  they  are  as  free  as  before  to 
carry  on  their  business."  The  right  of  the  Government  to  pro- 
hibit British  subjects  to  trade  with  such  firms  as  it  saw  fit  was 
held  to  be  beyond  dispute.  The  measure  in  question  was  justi- 
fied as  a  military  necessity.  The  modern  means  of  transport 
and  communication,  opening  new,  easy  methods  for  an  enemy 
subject  residing  in  a  neutral  country  to  render  aid  to  his 
Government,  was  cited  as  another  justifying  reason.  That 
German  business  houses  in  foreign  lands  had  been  not  merely 
agents  active  in  spreading  espionage  was  common  knowledge. 
They  had  been  used  as  bases  to  supply  German  cruisers,  they 
were  paymasters  of  miscreants  hired  "to  destroy  by  foul  means 
factories  engaged  in  making,  or  ships  engaged  in  carrying,  sup- 
plies required  by  the  Allies.  Such  operations  have  been  carried 
out  even  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States  itself,"  and  His 
Majesty's  Government  was  bound  to  say  "that  no  adequate  ac- 
tion has  yet  been  taken  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
to  suppress  breaches  of  neutrality  of  this  particularly  criminal 
kind."  And  so  the  matter  stood  when  we  entered  the  war. 

By  this  time  another  German  submarine,  the  U-53,  fully 
armed  with  torpedoes  and  guns,  suddenly  appeared  off  New- 
port, stayed  a  few  hours  and  put  to  sea.  From  Newport  she 
made  her  way  to  a  point  some  sixty  miles  south  of  the  Nan- 
tucket  Lightship,  directly  in  the  route  of  European  trade,  and 
there  lay  in  wait  for  her  victims.  She  did  not  wait  long,  for  at 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         277 

about  half-past  five  in  the  morning  of  October  8  the  American 
isteamer  Kansan  was  stopped,  but  allowed  to  proceed.  Half 
an  hour  later  the  Strathdene  was  met,  torpedoed  and  sunk. 
Then  came  in  succession  the  British  freighter,  West  Point,  the 
Stephana,  the  Dutch  steamer  Bloomersdijk  and  the  Norwegian 
tanker  Christian  Knudsen.  Meantime  the  distress  call  from  the 
West  Point,  sunk  about  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  was 
picked  up  by  the  radio  station  at  Newport,  and  fifteen  American 
torpedo  boat  destroyers  were  at  once  dispatched  to  search  for 
the  boats  of  the  torpedoed  ships,  and  bring  back  the  crews  and 
passengers.  All  were  landed  in  safety.  For  a  time  men  en- 
gaged in  the  shipping  business  were  panic-stricken.  Ships  un- 
der the  flags  of  the  Allies  were  held  in  port,  anxiety  was  felt 
for  the  safety  of  vessels  nearing  port,  and  warnings  by  wireless 
were  sent  out  from  every  available  station  along  the  coast.  Wild 
rumors  were  current.  Some  said  there  were  three  submarines, 
others  two,  others  that  a  "mother-boat"  had  been  seen  and  had 
undoubtedly  accompanied  U-53,  carrying  her  supplies.  Ques- 
tions of  law  and  policy  were  raised.  Germany  it  was  said  has 
now  practically  established  a  blockade  of  our  ports.  Will  the 
United  States  quietly  tolerate  this  bringing  of  the  European 
war  to  its  very  shores  ?  Were  the  United  States  Naval  authori- 
ties acting  lawfully  when  they  sent  destroyers  to  save  the  pas- 
sengers and  crews  ?  The  act  was  humane  but  was  it  not  aiding 
and  assisting  the  submarine  in  its  work  of  destruction  and  to 
that  extent  unneutral?  What  was  the  object  of  Germany  in 
sending  the  U-53  to  cruise  off  our  coast?  The  French  press 
declared  it  was  to  intimidate  public  opinion  on  the  eve  of  the 
election. 

The  story  of  some  fishermen  and  of  the  Captain  of  the 
Stephano  that  they  had  seen  two  submarines  was  supported  by 
the  Providence  Journal,  which  gave  a  new  explanation  of  the 
visit  of  the  U-53. 

"The  Providence  Journal,"  it  said,  "has  information  se- 
cured direct  from  German  Embassy  sources  which  conclusively 
settles  the  controversy  as  to  the  real  reasons  why  the  German 
submarine  U-53  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  entered  Newport 
Harbor.  The  entire  scheme  was  originated  and  supervised  by 
Captain  Boy-Ed,  late  naval  attache  to  the  United  States,  who 


278     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

from  his  headquarters  in  Subec,  where  he  still  is,  has  directed 
every  move  that  has  been  made  or  is  yet  to  be  made  by  German 
submarines  off  the  coast  of  the  United  States." 

The  report,  the  Journal  said,  that  there  were  more  than  one 
submarine,  was  true.  The  U-53  had  as  consorts  U-48,  com- 
manded by  Captain  L.  Michaelis,  and  U-61,  in  charge  of  Lieu- 
tenant Commander  H.  Griefen.  In  proof  of  the  part  taken  by 
Boy-Ed,  the  Journal  gave  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by 
him  September  4,  to  an  official  in  the  German  Embassy.  He 
said: 

",It  is  vitally  necessary  for  us  to  establish  some  proper  work- 
ing basis  which  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  President,  and  in  or- 
der to  do  that  we  must  create  a  condition  which  will  necessitate 
a  ruling. 

"Any  thought  of  our  being  permitted  to  use  our  submarines 
to  bring  captured  vessels  into  American  ports  as  prizes  must,  of 
course,  be  abandoned  when  we  think  of  the  Appam  case.  Con- 
fronted by  such  an  obstacle  at  one  end,  we  are  also  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  we  cannot  at  this  moment,  'while  domestic  events 
are  pending  in  America,'  sink  such  vessels  without  taking  ac- 
count of  human  life.  In  order  to  ascertain  where  we  stand,  we 
must,  therefore,  force  the  issue  and  see  to  what  extent  America 
is  willing  to  carry  out  her  alleged  humanitarian  ideals  by  help- 
ing us  to  save  the  lives  of  those  whose  ships  we  destroy  in  the 
coming  campaign  in  the  Western  Atlantic." 

Thus,  said  the  Journal,  "the  sole  motive  was  to  bring  to 
the  spot,  as  a  result  of  S.O.S.  calls,  whatever  vessels  of  the 
United  States  Navy  might  be  in  the  neighborhood,  and  on  their 
arrival  to  ask  the  question,  how  far  American  men-of-war  would 
aid  the  plans  of  the  submarine  commanders  by  saving  the  lives 
of  the  passengers  and  crews  of  the  doomed  vessels." 

At  a  conference  held  on  Monday,  October  9,  at  the  German 
Embassy,  the  Journal  asserted,  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  said 
that  at  last  a  working  basis  had  been  established  for  submarine 
activities  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  "We  now  have  a  prece- 
dent which  makes  it  certain  that  American  vessels  of  war  will 
not  hesitate  to  save  the  lives  of  passengers  and  crews  of  ships 
that  are  destroyed  by  submarines,  and  as  long  as  the  physical 
conditions  of  submarines  are  what  they  are,  we  are  very  glad, 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         279 

not  desiring  to  destroy  noncombatant  life,  to  hand  the  humani- 
tarian work  of  saving  men  and  women  over  to  the  United  States 
Navy."  5 

The  same  newspapers  which  announced  the  arrival  of  the 
Deutschland  at  New  London  made  public  a  dispatch  from  the 
American  consul  at  Queenstown  stating  that  the  British  steamer 
Marina  had  been  torpedoed  without  warning,  off  the  southwest 
coast  of  Ireland,  and  that  six  of  the  fifty-two  Americans  aboard 
were  drowned.  Testimony  given  to  the  consul  by  survivors 
was  to  the  effect  that  the  ship  was  struck  by  two  torpedoes,  that 
no  warning  was  given  and  that  she  sank  in  eighteen  minutes. 
The  consul  also  reported  that  on  October  26  the  British  steamer 
Rowanmore  with  Americans  aboard  was  torpedoed.  A  few 
days  later  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company's  steamer 
Arabia,  with  one  American  aboard  was  sunk  by  a  submarine  in 
the  Mediterranean  off  Malta.  Then  came  news  of  the  sinking 
off  the  Spanish  coast  in  the  Mediterranean  of  the  American 
steamer  Columbian.  The  captain,  sitting  in  his  cabin,  heard  the 
sound  of  guns,  and,  rushing  on  deck,  saw  a  shell  fly  across  his 
vessel  and  a  submarine  some  four  miles  away.  Drawing  near, 
she  signaled  for  him  to  follow,  which  he  did  all  night,  guided 
by  rockets  sent  up  from  his  captor,  and  answered  under  orders 
by  rockets  from  the  Columbian.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning 
he  manned  a  boat  and  sent  it  to  the  submarine  to  explain  that 
the  Columbian  was  American-owned;  but  no  explanation  was 
allowed  and  the  boat  came  back  with  a  German  officer  and  two 
sailors.  The  crew  were  then  ordered  on  board  the  Bolo,  another 
prize  standing  by,  and  the  captain  was  taken  to  the  U-boat. 
Bombs  were  then  placed  on  the  Columbian  and  in  about  twelve 
minutes  they  exploded  and  she  sank.  All  hands  remained 
aboard  the  Bolo,  until  a  Swedish  steamer,  the  Varing,  was  met 
and  captured,  when  they  were  transferred  to  her  and  the  Bolo 
sunk.  A  Norwegian  steamship,  the  Fordalen,  was  the  next 
prize.  Her  crew  was  sent  to  the  Varing  and  the  Fordalen  was 
sunk.  Food  growing  scarce,  the  Varing  was  allowed  to  enter 
Corunna. 

As  soon  as  the  election  was  over  the  Department  of  State 
instructed  our  charge  at  Berlin — Mr.  Gerard  was  then  in  the 

•Providence  Journal,  October  24,  1916. 


280     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

United  States — to  make  inquiries  of  the  German  Government 
concerning  the  sinking  of  the  Marina,  Rowanmore,  and  Arabia, 
for  all  signs  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  submarine  commanders 
had  failed  to  observe  the  pledge  given  the  United  States.  A  dis- 
patch from  Berlin  in  November  announced  that  a  large  vessel 
was  sunk  eighty  miles  west  of  Malta  and  justified  the  act  be- 
cause she  carried  a  15  centimeter  gun,  was  transporting  hun- 
dreds of  workmen  and  war  material  to  France,  and  if  Great 
Britain  permitted  passengers  to  travel  on  such  a  ship,  "the  lives 
of  noncombatants  were  frivolously  risked."  In  the  case  of  the 
Marina,  great  stress,  it  was  said,  would  be  laid  by  Germany  on 
the  fact  that  she  was  armed  and  therefore  liable  to  attack  with- 
out warning.  Feeling  in  Germany  was  running  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  renewal  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare.  Armed 
merchantmen,  it  was  insisted,  should  be  attacked  at  sight,  with- 
out warning,  and  without  allowing  time  for  passengers  and  crew 
to  take  to  the  boats. 

Mr.  Lansing  denied  all  knowledge  of  any  such  intention  on 
the  part  of  Germany.  "I  do  not  know,"  he  said,  "the  origin 
of  the  stories  that  the  submarine  situation  is  serious,  but  I  have 
the  impression  that  they  are  emanating  from  some  source  in  this 
country."  What  source  he  declined  to  specify. 

And  now  a  dispatch  from  our  consul  at  Valencia  reported 
the  sinking  of  the  American  steamer  Chemung  near  Cape  de 
Gata  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  off  the  southeast  coast  of  Spain, 
by  gun  fire  and  torpedoes  from  a  submarine.  ~No  lives  were 
lost,  as  the  boats  were  towed  to  within  five  miles  of  the  coast 
by  the  submarine. 

December  4  the  Italian  steamer  Palermo,  on  her  way  from 
New  York  to  Geneva  with  horses  and  mules,  was  torpedoed  off 
the  Mediterranean  Coast  of  Spain.  On  board  were  some  twenty- 
five  Americans. 

The  German  note  on  the  Arabia,  now  made  public,  gave  as 
the  reason  for  sinking  her  the  belief  that  she  was  a  transport. 
November  6,  one  hundred  miles  west  of  the  island  of  Corigo,  a 
German  submarine,  said  the  note,  fell  in  with  a  large  steamship 
coming  from  the  Corigo  Straits.  She  was  painted  black,  and 
did  not,  as  was  usual  with  the  Peninsula  and  Oriental  steamers, 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         281 

have  light-colored  superstructures.  Though  identical  with  the 
Arabia,  she  was  off  the  route  taken  by  steamers  between  Port 
Said  and  Malta,  and  on  that  taken  by  vessels  of  war.  On  board 
were  "large  batches  of  Chinese  and  other  colored  persons  in 
their  national  costumes."  Supposing  them  to  be  workmen 
soldiers,  "such  as  are  used  in  great  numbers  behind  the  front 
by  the  enemies  of  Germany,  the  submarine  commander  believed 
he  was  concerned  with  a  transport  ship,  and  "attacked  without 
delay  and  sank  her." 

Should  the  United  States  give  the  data  showing  that  the 
Arabia  was  an  ordinary  passenger  steamer,  the  action  of  the  sub- 
marine commander  would  not  then  be  in  accordance  with  his 
instructions.  The  act  would  be  a  regrettable  mistake  "from 
which  the  German  Government  would  promptly  draw  the  ap- 
propriate consequences." 

The  British  Government,  when  informed  of  this  reply  and 
asked  for  the  facts,  answered  that  the  Arabia  was  not,  \vhen 
sunk,  and  never  had  been,  in  the  service  of  the  Government ;  that 
there  were  no  Asiatics  on  board  save  the  Indian  crew ;  and  that 
she  did  not  take  the  usual  route,  for  fear  of  submarines.  The 
Marina,  Germany  said,  was  also  supposed  to  be  a  transport. 
Great  Britain  admitted  that  she  had  carried  horses  on  her 
eastbound  trip,  but 'declared  she  was  not  in  the  Government 
service  on  her  westbound  trip.  The  Columbian  had  been  tor- 
pedoed because  of  assistance  given  to  the  enemy  by  wireless. 
Quite  as  useless  was  another  protest  called  forth  by  another  act 
of  German  brutality  in  Belgium. 

As  October  wore  away  letters  and  press  dispatches  from 
Amsterdam  and  London  told  of  a  new  reign  of  terror  in  Bel- 
gium, a  new  form  of  German  atrocity.  Having  destroyed  Bel- 
gian industry  by  carrying  off  machinery  of  every  sort,  having 
seized  all  raw  materials  and  having  by  such  seizures  deprived 
tens  of  thousands  of  men  of  the  means  of  earning  a  living  and 
forced  them  to  become  a  public  charge,  the  German  authorities 
in  the  military  area  of  Flanders  now  proceeded  to  seize  the 
workmen  because  they  were  idle  and  send  them  to  "somewhere 
in  Germany"  and  October  3  posted  a  decree  in  every  town  and 
village  in  the  area  subject  to  army  orders. 


282     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

DECREE  CONCERNING  THE  LIMITING  OF  THE  BURDENS  ON  PUBLIC  CHARITY 

I.  People  able  to  work  may  be  compelled  to  work  even  outside 
the  place  where  they  live,  in  case  they  have  to  apply  to  the  charity 
of  others  for  the  support  of  themselves  or  their  dependents  on  account 
of  gambling,  drunkenness,  loafing,  unemployment,  or  idleness. 

II.  Every  inhabitant  of  the  country  is  bound  to  render  assistance 
in  case  of  accident  or  general  danger,  and  also  to  give  help  in  case 
of  public  calamities  as  far  as  he  can,  even  outside  the  place  where 
he  lives;  in  case  of  refusal  he  may  be  compelled  by  force. 

III.  Any  one  called  upon  to  work,  under  Articles  I  o,r  II,  who 
shall  refuse  the  work,  or  to  continue  at  the  work  assigned  him,  will 
incur  the  penalty  of  imprisonment  up  to  three  years  and  of  a  fine  up 
to  10,000  marks,  or  one  or  other  of  these  penalties,  unless  a  severer 
penalty  is  provided  for  by  the  laws  in  force. 

If  the  refusal  to  work  has  been  made  in  concert  or  in  agreement 
with  several  persons,  each  accomplice  will  be  sentenced,  as  if  he  were 
a  ringleader,  to  at  least  a  week's  imprisonment. 

IV.  The  German  military  authorities  and  Military  Courts  will 
enforce  the  proper  execution  of  this  decree. 

The  Quartermaster  General,  SAUBERZWEIG. 
Great  Headquarters,  October  3,  1916. 

Notices  which  followed  the  decree  gave  warning  to  all  con- 
cerned to  come  at  a  certain  day  and  hour  to  a  certain  place  with 
a  kit  containing  specified  articles.  Municipal  authorities  who 
alone  had  the  lists  of  names  of  persons  receiving  public  aid 
were  ordered  to  furnish  them  to  the  Military  Authorities.  In 
general  this  was  refused  and  the  town  heavily  fined.  Thus  the 
Municipal  Council  of  Tournai,  having  refused  to  furnish  a  list, 
felt  it  a  duty  to  place  on  record  the  following: 

The  City  of  Tournai  is  prepared  to  submit  unreservedly  to  all  the 
exigencies  authorized  by  the  laws  and  customs  of  war.  Its  sincerity 
cannot  be  questioned.  For  more  than  two  years  it  has  submitted  to 
the  German  occupation,  during  which  time  it  has  lodged  and  lived 
at  close  quarters  with  the  German  troops,  yet  it  has  displayed  perfect 
composure  and  has  refrained  from  any  act  of  hostility,  proving  thereby 
that  it  is  animated  by  no  idle  spirit  of  bravado. 

But  the  city  could  not  bring  itself  to  provide  arms  for  use  against 
its  own  children,  knowing  well  that  natural  law  and  the  law  of 
nations  (which  is  the  expression  of  natural  law)  both  forbid  such 
action. 

In  his  declaration  dated  September  2,  1914,  the  German  Governor 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         283 

General  of  Belgium  declared:  "I  ask  none  to  renounce  his  patriotic 
sentiments." 

The  city  of  Tournai  reposes  confidence  in  this  declaration,  which 
it  is  bound  to  consider  as  the  sentiment  of  the  German  Emperor, 
in  whose  name  the  Governor  General  was  speaking.  In  accepting 
the  inspiration  of  honor  and  patriotism,  the  city  is  loyal  to  a  funda- 
mental duty,  the  loftiness  of  which  must  be  apparent  to  any  German 
officer. 

The  city  is  confident  that  the  straightforwardness  and  clearness 
of  this  attitude  will  prevent  any  misunderstanding  arising  between 
itself  and  the  German  Army. 

Major  General  Hopfer  replied: 

In  permitting  itself,  through  the  medium  of  municipal  resolu- 
tions, to  oppose  the  orders  of  the  German  military  authorities  in  the 
occupied  territory,  the  city  is  guilty  of  an  unexampled  arrogance 
and  of  a  complete  misunderstanding  of  the  situation  created  by  the 
state  of  war. 

The  "clear  and  simple  situation"  is  in  reality  the  following: 

The  military  authorities  order  the  city  to  obey.  Otherwise  the 
city  must  bear  the  heavy  consequences,  as  I  have  pointed  out  in  my 
previous  explanations. 

The  General  Commanding  the  Army  has  inflicted  on  the  city — on 
account  of  its  refusal,  up  to  date,  to  furnish  the  lists  demanded — a 
punitive  contribution  of  200,000  marks,  which  must  be  paid  within 
the  next  six  days,  beginning  with  to-day.  The  General  also  adds 
that  until  such  time  as  all  the  lists  demanded  are  in  his  hands,  for 
every  day  in  arrears,  beginning  with  December  31,  1916,  a  sum  of 
20,000  marks  will  be  paid  by  the  city." 

Reports  from  Ghent,  Bruges,  Courtnai,  Tournai  and  Ant- 
werp told  of  the  seizure  of  men.  Five  thousand,  it  was  said,  had 
been  deported  from  Ghent  and  15,000  from  the  country.  A 
week  later  the  number  deported  was  said  to  have  reached 
30,000.  Refugees  from  around  Antwerp  who  broke  through 
the  barbed  wire  obstructions  along  the  Dutch  border,  and  es- 
caped, reported  that  on  short  notice  all  males  from  17  to  30 
had  been  summoned,  grouped  in  bands  of  sixty,  herded  into 
open  goods  cars  and  cattle  cars  and  sent  to  Germany.  Wives, 
children,  relatives  were  not  allowed  to  come  within  three  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  station. 

•German  \Yar  Practices,  issued  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Informa- 
tion, Nov.  15,  1017.  p.  58,  59. 


284     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

What  happened  at  Mons  is  thus  described  by  an  eye  witness : 

"At  half-past  five,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning  on  the  eighteenth 
of  November,  they  walked  out,  six  thousand  two  hundred  men  at 
Mons,  myself  and  another  leading  them  down  the  cobblestones  of 
the  street  and  out  where  rioting  would  be  less  than  in  the  great 
city,  with  the  soldiers  on  each  side,  with  bayonets  fixed,  with  the 
women  held  back. 

"There  they  were  collected ;  no  question  of  who  they  were,  whether 
they  were  busy  or  what  they  were  doing,  or  what  their  position  in 
life.  'Go  to  the  right !  Go  to  the  left !  Go  to  the  right !'  So  they 
were  turned  to  the  one  side  or  the  other. 

"Trains  were  standing  there  ready,  steaming,  to  take  them  to 
Germany.  You  saw  on  the  one  side  the  one  brother  taken,  the  other 
brother  left.  A  hasty  embrace  and  they  were  separated  and  gone. 
You  had  here  a  man  on  his  knees  before  a  German  ofiicer,  pleading  and 
begging  to  take  his  old  father's  place;  that  was  all.  The  father  went 
and  the  son  stayed.  They  were  packed  in  those  trains  that  were  wait- 
ing there."  7 

The  Belgian  women  now  appealed  to  Minister  Whitlock: 

"Mr.  Minister,"  they  said,  "the  crime  which  is  now  being 
committed  under  your  eyes,  the  deportation  of  thousands  of  men 
compelled  to  work  on  enemy  soil  against  the  interests  of  their 
country,  cannot  find  a  shadow  of  excuse  on  the  ground  of  mili- 
tary necessity ;  it  cannot  be  admitted  that  citizens  may  be  com- 
pelled to  work  directly  or  indirectly  for  the  enemy  against  their 
brothers  who  are  fighting.  Nevertheless  the  occupying  power 
will  force  thousands  of  men  to  this  monstrous  extremity,  both 
those  who  have  already  been  taken  to  Germany  and  those  who 
to-morrow  will  undergo  the  same  fate,  if  from  the  outside,  from 
neutral  Europe  and  the  United  States,  no  help  is  offered. 

"Those  who  are  taken  away  to-day  do  not  go  to  perform  a 
glorious  duty.  They  are  slaves  in  chains  who,  in  a  dark  exile, 
threatened  by  hunger,  prison,  death,  will  be  called  upon  to  per- 
form the  most  odious  work — service  to  the  enemy  against  the 
fatherland.  The  mothers  cannot  stand  by  while  such  an 
abomination  is  taking  place  without  making  their  voices  heard 
in  protest.  We  extend  our  hands  to  you  and  address  to  your 
country  a  last  appeal. 

T  John  H.  Gade,  in  The  National  Geographic  Magasvne,  May,  1917. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND        285 

"Only  the  united  will  of  the  neutral  peoples  energetically  ex- 
pressed can  counterbalance  that  of  the  German  authorities." 

And  now  Belgium,  through  her  Minister  at  Washington,  pro- 
tested to  Secretary  Lansing.  The  German  Governor  General, 
he  said,  is  forcing  thousands  of  Belgian  workmen  to  go  to  Ger- 
many to  work  in  quarries  in  the  manufacture  of  concrete,  and 
in  lime  kilns,  under  the  pretext  that  they  are  a  charge  upon 
public  charity.  This  he  protested  was  contrary  to  the  law  of 
nations  and  inhuman,  and  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  the  Bel- 
gians asked  that  the  United  States  intervene  to  procure  the 
stoppage  of  deportations,  and  obtain  the  liberation  of  those  de- 
ported. Germany's  statement  that  they  were  not  used  in  war 
industries  was  false,  for  they  were  used  in  work  directly  con- 
nected with  war  and  released  Germans  who  were  sent  to  the 
front  to  fight.  A  week  later  the  Minister  again  protested.  The 
situation  in  Belgium  was  daily  growing  worse.  The  "slave  raid- 
ing" was  going  on  over  all  the  country.  When  not  put  to  work 
in  German  ammunition  factories,  the  men  were  sent  to  northern 
France  to  dig  trenches  or  build  strategic  railroads.  On  Novem- 
ber 24  two  hundred  textile  workers  were  deported  from  Ghent. 
By  the  first  of  December  the  number  of  those  deported  was 
given  at  200,000,  and  men  up  to  fifty-five  years  of  age  were  then 
being  taken. 

Our  charge,  Mr.  Grew,  meanwhile  had  been  instructed  to 
protest  informally,  and  in  the  course  of  a  conversation  with  the 
Under  Secretary  of  State  was  handed  this  memorandum: 

"Against  the  unemployed  in  Belgium,  who  are  a  burden  to 
public  charity,  in  order  to  avoid  friction  arising  therefrom, 
compulsory  measures  are  to  be  adopted  to  make  them  work  so 
far  as  they  are  not  voluntarily  inclined  to  work,  in  accordance 
with  the  regulation  issued  May  15,  1916,  by  the  Governor  Gen- 
eral. Jn  order  to  ascertain  such  persons  the  assistance  of  the 
municipal  authorities  is  required  for  the  district  of  the  Governor 
General  in  Brussels,  while  in  the  districts  outside  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  i.e.,  in  the  provinces  of  Flanders,  lists  were 
demanded  from  the  presidents  of  the  local  relief  committees 
containing  the  names  of  persons  receiving  relief.  For  the  sake 
of  establishing  uniform  procedure  the  competent  authorities 

German  War  Practices,  pp.  71,  72. 


286     THE  UNITED'  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

have,  in  the  meantime,  been  instructed  to  make  the  necessary 
investigations  regarding  such  persons  also  in  Flanders  through 
the  municipal  authorities;  furthermore,  presidents  of  local  re- 
lief committees  who  may  he  detained  for  having  refused  to 
furnish  such  lists  will  be  released." 

Mr.  Grew  then  discussed  with  the  Under  Secretary  of  State 
for  Foreign  Affairs  the  unfortunate  impression  which  this  de- 
cision would  make  abroad,  reminded  him  that  the  measures 
were  contrary  to  the  assurances  given  to  the  Ambassador  by  the 
Chancellor  at  General  Headquarters,  dwelt  on  the  effect  which 
the  policy  might  have  on  England's  attitude  towards  relief 
work  in  Belgium,  and  said  that  the  measures  having  been 
promulgated  solely  by  the  military  government  in  Belgium,  he 
thought  the  -matter  ought  at  least  to  be  brought  to  the  Chancel- 
lor's personal  attention  because  of  the  consequences  the  new 
policy  would  entail.  Herr  Zimmermann  did  not  think  that  the 
Foreign  Office  had  any  influence  with  the  military  authorities ; 
did  not  believe  that  the  new  policy  in  Belgium  could  be  revoked ; 
but  did  not  disapprove  of  Mr.  Grew  seeing  the  Chancellor 
about  the  matter. 

To  the  Chancellor,  when  seen,  Mr.  Grew  suggested  that: 
Only  actual  unemployed  be  taken;  that  married  men  or  heads 
of  families  be  not  taken;  that  employees  of  the  Comite  Na- 
tional be  not  taken ;  that  the  lists  of  the  unemployed  be  not  re- 
quired of  the  Belgian  authorities;  that  Belgians,  who  had  al- 
ready been  imprisoned  for  refusing  to  supply  these  lists,  be  re- 
leased; that  deported  persons  be  permitted  to  correspond  with 
their  families  in  Belgium ;  and  that  places  of  work  or  concentra- 
tion camps  of  deported  persons  be  opened  by  the  German  Gov- 
ernment to  inspection  by  neutral  representatives. 

The  Chancellor,  through  his  adjutant,  replied  informally 
and  orally  that  only  actually  unemployed  were  to  be  taken, 
and  the  selections  would  be  made  in  a  careful  and  deliberate 
manner;  that  married  men  or  heads  of  families  could  not  in 
principle  be  exempted,  but  each  case  would  be  considered  care- 
fully on  its  merits ;  that  employees  of  the  Comite  National  were 
regarded  as  actually  employed  and  therefore  exempt;  that  it 
was  essential  that  the  Belgian  authorities  should  cooperate  with 
the  German  authorities  in  furnishing  lists  of  unemployed,  in 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND         287 

order  to  avoid  making  mistakes ;  that  only  one  Belgian  had  been 
imprisoned  for  refusing  to  give  such  lists,  and  orders  had  now 
been  given  for  his  release ;  that  deported  persons  would  be  per- 
mitted to  correspond  with  their  families  in  Belgium  ;  that  places 
of  work  and  concentration  camps  would  in  principle  be  open 
to  inspection  by  Spanish  diplomatic  representatives;  and  that 
American  inpection  might  also  be  informally  arranged  if  de- 
sired. 

Failing  in  this  informal  way  to  produce  effect,  a  formal  note 
was  drafted  by  Mr.  Grew  and  duly  presented  December  5,  1016. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  it  set  forth,  has 
learned  with  the  greatest  concern  and  regret  of  "the  policy  of 
the  German  Government  to  deport  from  Belgium  a  portion  of 
the  civilian  population  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  them  to  labor 
in  Germany  and  is  constrained  to  protest  in  a  friendly  spirit 
but  most  solemnly  against  this  action."  It  was  contrary  to  all 
precedent  and  against  "those  humane  principles  of  international 
practice  which  have  long  been  accepted  and  followed  by  civilized 
nations  in  their  treatment  of  noncombatants  in  conquered  ter- 
ritory." If  carried  out  it  would  "in  all  probability  be  fatal  to 
Belgian  relief  work  so  humanely  planned  and  so  successfully 
carried  out." 

To  this  it  was  answered  by  Germany  that  in  Belgium  the 
number  of  unemployed  had  become  a  matter  for  serious  con- 
sideration, because  the  British  policy  of  exclusion  had  cut  off 
raw  materials,  closed  the  factories,  brought  Belgian  industries 
to  a  stand,  thrown  out  of  employment  upwards  of  1,200,000 
Belgians,  and  made  them  dependent  on  public  relief.  Under 
such  conditions  the  Governor  General  of  Brussels  on  March 
15,  1916,  issued  an  order  imposing  imprisonment  or  coercive 
labor  upon  persons  depending  on  the  public  for  relief  and  re- 
fusing to  do  work  according  to  their  abilities.  To  find  work  for 
all  such  in  Belgium  was  not  possible.  Nothing  therefore  was 
left  to  do  but  assign  them  to  work  in  Germany.  These  measures 
were  strictly  in  accord  with  international  law.  and  had  been  car- 
ried out  "with  all  possible  consideration  and  without  harsh- 
ness." 

At  an  indignation  meeting  in  New  York  it  was  resolved  that 
"we  American  citizens  in  public  meeting"  express  abhorrence1 


of  the  "fresh  outrages  and  violations  of  the  laws  of  war,  the 
law  of  nations,  and  the  instincts  of  common  humanity  de- 
liberately perpetrated  by  the  German  Government,"  and  the 
Government  was  called  on  "to  protest  with  all  its  force  and 
earnestness  against  these  outrages." 

The  statement  by  Germany  that  the  British  blockade  was 
solely  responsible  for  the  shortage  of  raw  material  was  false. 
At  the  very  outset  of  the  war  Dr.  Walter  Eathenau,  in  August, 
1914,  suggested  a  plan  for  the  conservation  of  the  economic 
resources  of  Germany,  and  for  the  acquisition  of  the  needed  raw 
material  by  purchase  in  neutral  countries  and  by  seizure  in  the 
countries  to  be  conquered.  To  put  this  plan  in  operation  a  new 
bureau  with  36  subdivisions  was  created,  and  placed  in  charge 
of  the  Minister  of  War,  and  on  the  day  the  Germans  entered 
Belgium  the  bureau  began  its  work  in  that  unhappy  country.  In 
obedience  to  66  decrees  issued  in  the  course  of  two  years,  Bel- 
gium was  stripped  bare  of  machines  and  machine  tools,  of  lathes, 
wool  and  linen,  cotton,  jute  and  thread,  rubber,  mineral  and 
chemical  products,  locomotives  and  automobiles,  horses,  cattle, 
hides,  fats  and  oils,  of  almost  everything  the  people  possessed. 
Why  this  was  done  was  made  clear  in  a  speech  by  Herr  Beumer 
in  the  Prussian  Diet  about  the  time  of  the  great  "slave  raids/' 

"Anybody,"  said  he,  "who  knows  the  present  state  of  things 
in  Belgian  industry  will  agree  with  me  that  it  must  take  at 
least  some  years — assuming  that  Belgium  is  independent  at  all 
— before  Belgium  can  ever  think  of  competing  with  us  in  the 
world  market.  And  anybody  who  has  traveled  as  I  have  done, 
through  the  occupied  districts  of  France,  will  agree  with  me 
that  so  much  damage  has  been  done  to  industrial  property  that 
no  one  need  be  a  prophet  in  order  to  say  that  it  will  take  more 
than  ten  years  before  we  need  think  of  France  as  a  competitor 
or  of  the  reestablishment  of  French  industry."  8 

Protests  produced  no  effect  whatever,  and  on  January  17, 
1917,  Mr.  Brand  Whitlock  in  a  long  report  to  the  Department 
of  State  said: 

"The  deportations  began  in  October  in  the  Etape,  at  Ghent, 
and  at  Bruges,  as  my  brief  telegrams  indicated.  The  policy 
spread ;  the  rich  industrial  districts  of  Hainaut,  the  mines  and 

•"War  Cyclopedia,"  p.  33. 


PLOTS  AND  CRIMES  ON  SEA  AND  LAND        289 

steel  works  about  Charleroi  were  next  attacked;  now  they  are 
seizing  men  in  Brabant,  even  in  Brussels,  despite  some  indica- 
tions and  even  predictions  of  the  civil  authorities  that  the  policy 
was  about  to  be  abandoned. 

"During  the  last  fortnight  men  have  been  impressed  here  in 
Brussels,  but  their  seizures  here  are  made  evidently  with  much 
greater  care  than  in  the  provinces,  with  more  regard  for  the 
appearances.  There  was  no  public  announcement  of  the  inten- 
tion to  deport,  but  suddenly  about  ten  days  ago  certain  men  in 
towns  whose  names  are  on  the  list  of  chomeurs  received  sum- 
mons notifying  them  to  report  at  one  of  the  railway  stations 
on  a  given  day;  penalties  were  fixed  for  failure  to  respond  to 
the  summons,  and  there  was  printed  on  the  card  an  offer  of 
employment  by  the  German  Government,  either  in  Germany  or 
Belgium.  On  the  first  day  out  of  about  1,500  men  ordered  to 
present  themselves  at  the  Gare  du  Midi  about  750  responded. 
These  were  examined  by  German  physicians  and  300  were 
taken.  There  was  no  disorder,  a  large  force  of  mounted  Uhlans 
keeping  back  the  crowds  and  barring  access  to  the  station  to  all 
but  those  who  had  been  summoned  to  appear.  The  Commission 
for  Relief  in  Belgium  had  secured  permission  to  give  to  each 
deported  man  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  some  of  the  communes  pro- 
vided warm  clothing  for  those  who  had  none  and  in  addition  a 
small  financial  allowance.  As  by  one  of  the  ironies  of  life  the 
winter  has  been  more  excessively  cold  than  Belgium  has  ever 
known  it,  and  while  many  of  those  who  presented  themselves 
were  adequately  protected  against  the  cold,  many  of  them  were 
without  overcoats.  The  men  shivering  from  cold  and  fear,  the 
parting  from  weeping  wives  and  children,  the  barriers  of  brutal 
Uhlans,  all  this  made  the  scene  a  pitiable  and  distressing  one. 

"It  was  understood  that  the  seizures  would  continue  here  in 
Brussels,  but  on  Thursday  last,  a  bitter  cold  day,  those  that  had 
been  convoked  were  sent  home  without  examination.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  severe  weather  has  moved  the  Germans  to  post- 
pone the  deportations."  9 

•German  War  Practices,  p.  55,  56. 

The  etapea  were  the  parts  of  Belgium  under  martial  law,  and  included 
the  province  of  western  Flanders,  part  of  eastern  Flanders,  and  the 
region  of  Tournai.  The  remainder  of  the  occupied  part  of  Belgium  was 
under  civil  government. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   PEACE    NOTES 

TUESDAY,  the  twelfth  of  December,  1916,  was  a  day  long 
to  be  remembered  in  Berlin,  for  on  that  day  the  Reichstag  had 
assembled  in  special  session  to  hear  peace  proposals,  made  by 
the  Emperor  to  the  Allies.  Every  member  of  that  body,  those 
at  home  and  those  in  the  trenches,  had  been  summoned,  for  the 
meeting,  it  was  said,  would  be  "the  most  remarkable  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  and  of  world-wide  historical  importance." 

The  Chancellor  began  his  speech  in  a  boastful  vein,  telling 
how  Roumania  had  entered  the  war  to  roll  up  the  German  army 
in  the  east;  how  the  Allies  on  the  Soinme  had  sought  to  pierce 
the  German  line ;  how  the  Italians  had  attempted  to  crush  Aus- 
tria-Hungary ;  how,  with  God's  help,  the  western  front  still 
stood,  and  in  spite  of  the  Roumanian  campaign  was  stronger 
in  men  and  material  than  ever  before;  how,  "while  on  the 
Somme  and  on  the  Corso  the  drumfire  resounded,  while  the 
Russians  launched  troops  against  the  eastern  frontier  of 
Transylvania,"  von  Hindenburg  captured  the  whole  of  western 
Wallachia  and  the  capital  of  Bucharest;  and  how  great  stores 
of  grain,  food,  oil,  had  fallen  into  German  hands  in  Roumania 
and  had  put  the  abundance  of  their  own  supplies  beyond  ques- 
tion. 

He  told  how  on  the  sea  the  submarine  had  brought  to  the 
Allies  the  specter  of  famine  they  had  intended  should  appeal- 
before  Germany ;  and  how  the  Reichstag  by  "the  national 
auxiliary  war  service  law"  had  built  up  "a  new  offensive  and 
defensive  bulwark  in  the  midst  of  the  great  struggle."  Behind 
the  fighting  army  stood  the  nation  at  work.  The  Empire  was 
not,  as  its  enemies  fondly  imagined,  a  besieged  fortress,  but 
"one  gigantic  and  firmly  disciplined  camp  with  inexhaustible 
resources." 

The  enemies  of  Germany,  he  said,  had  accused  her  of  seek- 

290 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  291 

ing  to  conquer  the  whole  world.  Unmoved  by  these  accusations 
she  had  gone  on  always  ready  to  fight  for  her  existence,  her 
free  future,  always  ready  "for  this  prize  to  stretch  out  her  hand 
for  peace."  Therefore,  moved  by  "a  deep  moral  and  religious 
sense  of  duty  towards  his  nation,  and,  beyond  it,  towards  hu- 
manity, the  Emperor  now  considers  that  the  moment  has  come 
for  official  action,"  and  had  decided  to  propose  to  the  Allied 
Powers  "to  enter  into  peace  negotiations."  He  had  that  morn- 
ing transmitted  to  all  the  hostile  Powers  "a  note  to  this  effect." 

The  Chancellor  then  read  the  note  and  continued,  "To-day 
we  raise  the  question  of  peace,  which  is  a  question  of  humanity." 

While  the  Chancellor  was  speaking,  the  Emperor  announced 
to  the  army  and  navy  that  "in  agreement  with  the  sovereigns 
of  my  allies  and  the  consciousness  of  victory,  I  have  made  an 
offer  of  peace  to  the  enemy.  Whether  it  will  be  accepted  is  still 
uncertain.  Until  that  moment  arrives  you  will  fight  on." 

The  note  was  to  be  transmitted  to  Serbia  by  the  Netherlands 
Minister ;  to  Italy,  Belgium,  and  Portugal  by  the  Swiss  Minis- 
ter, and  to  Great  Britain  and  France  by  our  Ambassadors  at 
London  and  Paris. 

On  receipt  of  official  copies  at  Washington  it  was  proposed 
to  send  with  the  note  an  appeal  to  consider  the  peace  proposal 
favorably  and  hold  a  conference;  but  a  wiser  course  was  taken 
and  the  note  was  formally  delivered  by  Ambassador  Page  in 
London  and  Ambassador  Sharp  in  Paris  without  comment. 

"Our  aims,"  said  Germany  and  her  allies  in  their  joint 
note,  "are  not  to  shatter  nor  annihilate  our  adversaries.  In 
spite  of  our  consciousness  of  our  military  and  economic  strength 
and  our  readiness  to  continue  the  war  (which  has  been  forced 
upon  us)  to- the  bitter  end,  if  necessary,  at  the  same  time, 
prompted  by  the  desire  to  avoid  further  bloodshed  and  make  an 
end  to  the  atrocities  of  war,  the  four  allied  Powers  propose  to 
enter  forthwith  into  peace  negotiations." 

The  four  allied  Powers  had  been  forced  to  take  arms  in  de- 
fense of  "justice  and  the  liberty  of  national  evolution."  Ger- 
many and  her  allies,  "Austria-Hungary,  Bulgaria  and  Turkey," 
had  "given  proof  of  their  unconquerable  strength  in  this  strug- 
gle." They  had  gained  "gigantic  advantages  over  adversaries 
superior  in  number  and  war  material."  Their  lines  stood  un- 


292     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

shaken.  The  last  attack  in  the  Balkans  had  been  victoriously 
overcome.  The  resistance  of  their  forces  could  not  be  over- 
come, and  the  whole  situation  justified  their  "expectation  of 
further  successes." 

"If  in  spite  of  this  offer  of  peace/'  the  war  went  on,  they 
were  resolved  to  fight  to  a  victorious  end. 

Russia,  the  first  to  answer  the  German  note,  declared  in 
resolutions  adopted  by  the  Duma,  that  she  favored  a  flat  refusal, 
by  the  Allies,  to  "enter  into  any  peace  negotiations  whatever." 
To  her  the  proposal  of  Germany  was  a  new  proof  of  the  weak- 
ness of  the  enemy  and  "a  hypocritical  act  from  which  the  enemy 
expects  no  real  success." 

France  made  her  answer  on  the  field  of  battle,  where  De- 
cember 15,  1916,  she  won  another  great  victory  before  Verdun, 
drove  back  the  German  lines,  captured  some  11,000  prisoners, 
reoccupied  almost  all  the  ground  lost  since  February,  and  dis- 
proved the  claim  of  the  Chancellor  that  the  western  line  stood 
unshaken. 

In  England  a  change  of  ministry  had  just  taken  place ;  Mr. 
Asquith  had  retired;  Lloyd  George  on  December  7  had  kissed 
the  King's  hand  and  become  Prime  Minister,  and  as  such  on 
December  19  made  his  speech  in  Parliament  outlining  his 
policy.  In  the  course  of  it  he  said : 

There  has  been  some  talk  about  proposals  of  peace.  What  are 
the  proposals?  There  are  none.  To  enter,  on  the  invitation  of 
Germany,  proclaiming  herself  victorious,  without  any  knowledge  of 
the  proposals  she  proposes  to  make,  into  a  conference  is  to  put  our 
heads  into  a  noose  with  the  rope  end  in  the  hands  of  Germany.  .  .  . 

We  feel  we  ought  to  know,  before  we  can  give  favorable  consid- 
eration to  such  an  invitation,  that  Germany  is  prepared  to  accede 
to  the  only  terms  on  which  it  is  possible  for  peace  to  be  obtained 
and  maintained  in  Europe.  What  are  these  terms?  [In  the  words 
of  his  right  honorable  friend  they  were,]  "Restitution,  reparation, 
guarantee  against  repetition." 

President  Wilson,  meantime,  without  any  knowledge  of 
what  the  Kaiser  was  about  to  do,  had  it  in  mind  to  appeal  to 
the  belligerents  to  state  what  they  were  fighting  for,  in  the  hope 
that  their  statements  of  their  objects  might  become  the  basis 
of  peace.  He  now  wrote  the  note,  and  on  December  18  sent  it 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  293 

to  the  warring  Powers.      Our   diplomatic   representatives  to 
Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  were  to  say : 

The  suggestion  which  I  am  instructed  to  make  the  President  has 
long  had  it  in  mind  to  offer.  He  is  somewhat  embarrassed  to  offer 
it  at  this  particular  time  because  it  may  now  seem  to  have  been 
prompted  by  a  desire  to  play  a  part  in  connection  with  the  recent 
overtures  of  the  Central  Powers.  It  has,  in  fact,  been  in  no  way 
suggested  by  them  in  its  origin,  and  the  President  would  have 
delayed  offering  it  until  those  overtures  had  been  independently 
answered  but  for  the  fact  that  it  also  contains  the  question  of  peace 
and  may  best  be  considered  in  connection  with  other  proposals  which 
have  the  same  end  in  view.  The  President  can  only  beg  that  his 
suggestion  be  considered  entirely  on  its  own  merits  and  as  if  it  had 
been  made  in  other  circumstances. 

In  the  notes  to  the  Allies  this  paragraph  was  replaced  by 
one  identical  in  substance  but  not  quite  the  same  in  words. 
With  this  exception  all  the  notes  were  alike. 

The  President  suggests  that  an  early  occasion  be  sought  to  call 
out  from  all  the  nations  now  at  war  such  an  avowal  of  their  respective 
views  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  the  war  might  be  concluded  and 
the  arrangements  which  would  be  deemed  satisfactory  as  a  guarantee 
against  its  renewal  or  the  kindling  of  any  similar  conflict  in  the 
future  as  would  make  it  possible  frankly  to  compare  them. 

By  what  particular  means  this  should  be  brought  about  the 
President  cared  not.  Any  means  would  be  acceptable  to  him  if 
only  the  great  object  he  had  in  mind  was  accomplished.  The 
belligerents  on  both  sides  he  believed  had  virtually  the  same 
objects  in  mind.  Each  side  desired  to  make  the  rights  of  weak 
peoples  and  small  states  as  safe  against  aggression  in  the  future 
as  were  the  rights  of  the  great  and  powerful  states  then  at  war. 
Each  side  was  opposed  to  the  formation  of  more  rival  leagues  to 
preserve  an  uncertain  balance  of  power.  Each  was  ready  to 
consider  a  league  of  nations  to  insure  the  peace  of  the  world. 
But  the  issues  of  the  present  war  must  first  be  settled  on  such 
terms  as  would  safeguard  the  independence,  the  territorial  in- 
tegrity and  the  political  and  commercial  freedom  of  nations  in- 
volved. 

"In  the  measures  to  be  taken  to  secure  the  future  peace  of 
the  world  the  people  and  Government  of  the  United  States  are  as 


294     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

vitally  and  as  directly  interested  as  the  Governments  now  at 
war."  They  were  ready  and  eager  to  cooperate  in  accomplish- 
ing these  ends  when  the  war  was  over.  "But  the  war  must  first 
be  concluded."  Therefore  the  President  felt  "justified  in  sug- 
gesting an  immediate  opportunity  for  a  comparison  of  views  as 
to  the  terms  which  must  precede  those  ultimate  arrangements 
for  the  peace  of  the  world"  which  all  desired. 

If  the  contest  must  continue  to  proceed  towards  undefined  ends 
by  slow  attrition  until  one  group  of  belligerents  or  %the  other  is 
exhausted;  if  million  after  million  of  human  lives  must  continue  to 
be  offered  up  until  on  the  one  side  or  the  .other  -there  are  no  more 
to  offer;  if  resentments  must  be  kindled  that  can  never  cool-  and 
despairs  engendered  from  which  there  can  be  no  recovery,  hopes  of 
peace  and  of  the  willing  concert  of  free  peoples  will  be  rendered  vain 
and  idle. 

Every  part  of  the  great  family  of  mankind  had  felt  the 
burden  and  terror  of  the  war,  "and  yet  the  concrete  object  for 
which  it  is  being  waged  has  never  been  definitely  stated."  . 

"The  leaders  of  the  several  belligerents"  had  "stated  those 
objects  in  general  terms,"  and  stated  in  such  terms  they  seemed 
to  be  the  same  on  both  sides.  But  never  yet  had  "the  authorita- 
tive spokesmen  of  either  side"  stated  precisely  what  would  sat- 
isfy them.  The  world  had  been  "left  to  conjecture  what  definite 
results,  what  actual  exchange  of  guarantees,  what  political  or 
territorial  changes  or  readjustments,  what  stage  of  military  suc- 
cesses even,  would  bring  the  war  to  an  end."  He  was  not  pro- 
posing peacej  nor  offering  mediation,  but  suggesting  that  sound- 
ings be  taken  that  neutral  and  warring  nations  might  know 
"how  near  the  haven  of  peace  may  be." 

What  caused  the  President  to  make  his  unexpected  move 
was,  however,  a  matter  of  speculation.  This  Mr.  Lansing  sought 
to  explain  by  a  statement,  that  it  was  "not  our  material  inter- 
est we  had  in  mind  when  the  note  was  sent,  but  more  and  more 
our  own  rights  are  becoming  involved  by  the  belligerents  on 
both  sides,  so  that  the  situation  is  becoming  increasingly  critical. 

"I  mean  by  that  that  we  are  drawing  nearer  the  verge  of 
war  ourselves,  and,  therefore,  we  are  entitled  to  know  exactly 
what  each  belligerent  seeks  in  order  that  we  may  negotiate  our 
conduct  in  the  future." 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  295 

"No  nation  has  been  sounded.  No  consideration  of  the 
German  overtures,  or  the  speech  of  Lloyd  George,  was  taken 
into  account.  The  only  effect  of  the  overtures  was  to  delay  it  a 
few  days.  "The  sending  of  this  note  will  indicate  the  possi- 
bility of  our  being  forced  into  the  war.  That  possibility  ought 
to  serve  as  a  restraining  and  sobering  force  safeguarding 
American  rights.  It  may  also  serve  to.  force  an  earlier  conclu- 
sion of  the  war.  Neither  the  President  nor  myself  regards  this 
note  as  a  peace  note." 

Stocks,  which  began  to  decline  as  soon  as  the  German  pro- 
posal was  known,  now  fell  sharply,  and  hearing  of  this  and  that 
a  belief  existed  that  the  President  had  acted  because  the  country 
was  about  to  be  drawn  into  the  war,  Mr.  Lansing  later  in  the 
day  made  a  new  statement.  He  had,  he  said,'  been  misunder- 
stood. "My  intention  was  to  suggest  the  very  direct  and  nec- 
essary interest  which  this  country  as  one  of  the  neutral  nations 
has  in  the  possible  terms  which  the  belligerents  may  have  in 
mind,  and  I  did  not  intend  to  intimate  that  the  Government  was 
considering  any  change  in  its  policy  of  neutrality,  which  it  has 
consistently  pursued  in  the  face  of  constantly  increasing  difficul- 
ties." 

Not  until  December  thirtieth  was  the  reply  of  the  Entente 
Powers  to  the  German  peace  note  handed  to  our  Ambassador  at 
Paris,  and  not  until  January  4,  1917,  was  it  delivered  to  Ger- 
many by  our  Ambassador  at  Berlin. 

The  Allied  Governments,  Belgium,  France,  Great  Britain, 
Italy,  Japan,  Montenegro,  Portugal,  Roumania,  Russia,  and 
Serbia,  faithful  to  their  pledges  "not  to  lay  down  their  arms 
separately,"  had  "resolved  to  reply  collectively  to  the  pre- 
tended proposals  of  peace."  They  protested  against  two  asser- 
tions in  the  note,  against  that  which  attempted  to  throw  on  the 
Entente  Powers  the  responsibility  for  the  war,  and  against  that 
which  proclaimed  the  victory  of  the  Central  Powers.  The  Al- 
lied Powers  had  sustained  for  thirty  months  a  war  they  did 
everything  possible  to  avoid.  Their  attachment  to  peace  was 
still  as  strong  as  in  1914,  but  it  was  "not  upon  the  word  of 
Germany,  after  the  violation  of  its  engagements,  that  the  peace 
broken  by  her  may  be  based." 

"A  mere  suggestion,  without  a  statement  of  terms,  that 


296     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

negotiations  should  be  opened,  is  not  an  offer  of  peace."  It  was 
a  sham  proposal.  It  lacked  all  substance  and  precision.  It  was 
"less  an  offer  of  peace  than  a  war  maneuver."  It  was  nothing 
more  than  an  attempt  to  end  the  war  "by  imposing  a  German 
peace" ;  an  effort  to  stiffen  public  opinion  in  Germany  and  in 
countries  allied  to  her,  countries  sorely  "tried  by  losses,  worn 
out  by  economic  pressure,  crushed  by  the  supreme  effort  im- 
posed upon  their  people" ;  an  attempt  to  deceive  public  opinion 
in  neutral  countries  whose  peoples  had  long  since  made  up 
their  minds  as  to  the  origin  of  the  war  and  were  too  enlightened 
to  help  the  designs  of  Germany  by  abandoning  the  defense  of 
human  freedom ;  an  attempt,  finally,  to  justify  a  new  series  of 
crimes,  submarine  warfare,  deportations,  forced  labor  and  viola- 
tions of  neutrality.  The  Allies  in  short  refused  "to  consider  a 
proposal  which  is  empty  and  insincere";  declared  "that  no 
peace  is  possible  so  long  as  they  have  not  secured  reparation  for 
violated  rights  and  liberties" ;  so  long  as  "the  principles  of  na- 
tionality and  the  free  existence  of  small  states"  were  not  recog- 
nized ;  so  long  as  the  forces  which  constituted  a  perpetual  menace 
to  the  nations  had  not  been  destroyed,  and  the  security  of  the 
world  fully  guaranteed. 

The  note  closed  with  a  review  of  the  "special  situation  of 
Belgium"  after  two  and  a  half  years  of  war,  how  her  integrity 
had  been  guaranteed  by  treaties  signed  by  five  European  Pow- 
ers, of  whom  Germany  was  one;  how,  in  spite  of  these 
treaties,  she  was  the  first  to  suffer  from  German  aggression; 
how,  on  August  fourth,  in  the  Reichstag,  the  German  Chancel- 
lor had  admitted  this  aggression,  and  pledged  himself  in  the 
name  of  Germany  to  repair  it ;  how,  during  two  and  a  half  years, 
"this  injustice"  had  been  cruelly  aggravated  by  the  occupying 
army  which  "exhausted  the  resources  of  the  country,  ruined  its 
industries,  devastated  its  towns  and  villages,"  and  "was  re- 
sponsibile  for  innumerable  massacres,  executions,  and  imprison- 
ments," and  how  at  the  very  moment  Germany  was  "proclaim- 
ing peace  and  humanity  to  the  world"  she  was  deporting  Bel- 
gian citizens  by  thousands. 

To  this  the  Kaiser  made  reply  in  a  general  order  to  his  army 
and  navy.  He  had  offered  to  enter,  he  said,  into  peace  ne- 
gotiations. His  enemies  had  refused.  The  war  therefore  would 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  297 

continue.  "Before  God  and  humanity  I  declare  that  on  the 
Governments  of  our  enemies  alone  falls  the  heavy  responsibility 
for  all  the  further  terrible  sacrifices  from  which  I  wished  to 
save  you. 

"With  justified  indignation  at  our  enemies'  arrogant  crime 
and  with  determination  to  defend  our  holiest  possessions  and 
secure  for  the  Fatherland  a  happy  future,  you  will  become  as 
steel. 

"Our  enemies  did  not  want  the  understanding  offered  by 
me.  With  God's  help  our  arms  will  enforce  it." 

At  home  the  note  of  the  President  was  both  denounced  and 
supported.  Those  who  sympathized  with  the  Allies  declared 
it  to  be  meddlesome,  untimely,  ill  advised.  Whether  it  was 
a  peace  note  or  a  war  note  they  were  at  a  loss  to  know.  "If," 
said  Mr.  Roosevelt,  "the  note  was  designed  merely  to  promote 
an  early  conclusion  of  peace,  it  was  untimely,  irritating  and 
dangerous.  If  on  the  other  hand,  as  Mr.  Lansing  first  inter- 
preted it,  it  was  a  threat  of  war  and  foreshadowed  the  end  of 
American  neutrality,  it  was  not  only  dangerous  but  profoundly 
mischievous."  The  note  took  positions  "so  profoundly  immoral 
and  misleading  that  high-minded  and  right-thinking  American 
citizens,  whose  country  this  note  places  in  a  thoroughly  false 
light,  in  honor  are  bound  to  protest."  To  say  that  the  Germans 
who  had  trampled  Belgium  under  foot  and  were  transporting 
ten  thousand  Belgians  into  slavery  were  fighting  for  the  same 
object  as  their  victims  who  fought  for  their  country,  their 
homes,  their  wives  and  their  children,  was  "not  only  a  false- 
hood, but  a  callous  and  most  immoral  falsehood." 

Partisans  of  the  President  upheld  his  act  as  likely  to  bring 
peace,  and  introduced  in  the  Senate,  December  twentieth,  a 
resolution  that  "the  Senate  approves  and  strongly  endorses  the 
action  taken  by  the  President  in  sending  the  diplomatic  notes 
of  December  eighteenth  to  the  nations  now  engaged  in  war,  sug- 
gesting and  recommending  that  those  nations  state  the  terms 
upon  which  peace  might  be  discussed." 

To  adopt  the  resolution  in  this  form,  its  opponents  claimed, 
would  commit  the  United  States  to  an  international  league  to 
enforce  peace,  would  be  an  abandonment  of  the  doctrine  of 
neutrality  established  by  Washington,  an  abandonment  of  the 


298     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

doctrine  of  Monroe,  and  would  plunge  the  United  States  into 
the  political  complications  and  entangling  alliances  of  Europe. 
When  adopted  the  resolution  had  been  modified  to  read:  "Re- 
solved: That  the  Senate  approves  and  strongly  endorses  the  re- 
quest of  the  President  in  the  diplomatic  notes  of  December 
eighteenth  to  the  nations  now  engaged  in  war  that  those  nations 
state  the  terms  upon  which  peace  might  be  discussed." 

Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  replied  to  the  President's 
note  on  the  same  day,  December  26,  1916.  The  Imperial 
Government  believed  the  best  way  to  reach  the  desired  result 
would  be  by  a  direct  exchange  of  views,  and  suggested  "the 
speedy  assembly,  on  neutral  ground,  of  delegates  of  the  warring 
states."  The  great  work  for  the  prevention  of  future  wars 
could  not  be  taken  up  until  the  end  "of  the  present  conflict  of 
exhaustion."  When  that  time  came  Germany  would  be  ready 
"to  cooperate  with  the  United  States  in  this  sublime  task." 

Austria-Hungary  also  believed  a  direct  exchange  of  views 
by  the  belligerents  was  the  most  suitable  way  of  attaining  peace, 
and  proposed  "that  representatives  of  the  belligerent  powers 
convene  at  an  early  date  at  some  place  on  neutral  ground." 
She  also,  when  the  present  war  was  over,  was  ready  "to  under- 
take the  great  and  desirable  work  of  the  prevention  of  future 
wars." 

The  Swiss  Federal  Council  was  "glad  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity to  support  the  efforts  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States."  True  to  the  obligations  of  strict  neutrality,  a  friend 
to  the  States  of  both  the  warring  groups,  placed  "like  an  island 
amid  the  seething  waters  of  the  terrible  world  war,"  with  its 
"ideal  and  material  interests  sensibly  jeopardized  and  vio- 
lated," Switzerland  was  filled  with  a  deep  longing  for  peace 
and  ready  to  do  her  small  part  to  stop  the  endless  sufferings 
caused  by  the  war. 

The  Norwegian  Government  had  every  hope  that  the  in- 
itiative of  the  President  would  bring  results  worthy  of  the  high 
purpose  which 'inspired  it.  Greece  longed  for  peace,  heard  with 
,the  liveliest  interest  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  President  to  end 
the  long  and  cruel  war,  and  would  gladly  accede  to  his  noble 
demand  but  was  powerless.  Spain  expressed  her  sympathy,  but 
declined  to  cooperate.  "The  action  to  which  the  United  States 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  299 

invites  Spain  would  not  have  efficacy,  the  more  so  because  the 
Central  Powers  have  already  expressed  their  firm  determina- 
tion to  discuss  the  conditions  of  peace  solely  with  the  belligerent 
Powers." 

As  the  new  year  opened  there  began  to  come,  from  abroad, 
rumors  concerning  what  sort  of  a  reply  the  Allies  would  make 
to  the  peace  note  of  the  President.  Mr.  Hall  Caine,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  reported  that  when  M. 
Ribot  left  London  on  December  twenty-eighth  he  carried  with 
him  a  draft  of  the  reply,  that  it  would  have  to  be  sent  to  each 
of  the  Allies,  including  Japan,  and  that  their  approval  or 
changes  would  have  to  be  sent  to  Paris  before  the  note  could  be 
telegraphed  to  Washington.  Despite  the  harsh  criticism  the 
peace  note  met  with  in  London,  Paris  and  Petrograd,  he  was 
sure  the  reply  would  be  appreciative  and  even  grateful  in  tone. 
But  he  did  not  think  the  Allies  would  recognize  the  right  of 
America  to  force  on  a  peace  because  of  the  loss  of  the  lives  and 
property  should  the  German  submarine  war  take  on  a  form  of 
ruthless  inhumanity. 

Mr.  Frederick  Scott  Oliver  in  a  long  article  in  the  London 
Times  insisted  that  there  should  be  no  bargaining,  no  yielding. 
The  President,  said  he,  believes  that  if  the  belligerents  would 
state  their  terms  of  peace  the  war  would  be  a  deal  nearer  its 
end.  It  was  true,  as  the  President  pointed  out,  that  the  con- 
crete objects  of  the  war  had  never  been  definitely  stated.  This 
was  because  the  objects  of  the  war  were  not  concrete;  could  not 
be  stated  and  defined  in  diplomatic  language;  could  not  be 
listed,  and  bargained  for ;  did  "not  belong  to  the  same  order  of 
things  as  indemnities,  cessions,  or  retrocessions  of  territory." 
The  Allies  had  already  set  forth  before  the  world  "the  three 
general  objects  for  which  they  are  fighting,  and  which  under 
God  they  are  determined  to  achieve :  restitution,  reparation  and 
security.  But  the  greatest  of  these  is  security."  No  league  of 
nations  could  "insure  peace  or  justice  in  the  future  unless  the 
German  army  is  beaten  in  the  present  war." 

The  London  Times  in  an  editorial  said : 

We  axe  convinced  that  the  ends  for  which  the  Allies  are  fighting 
to-day  are  as  high  and  sacred  as  those  for  which  Americans  fought 
and  died  two  generations  ago.  They  are  in  the  last  resort  the  same 


300     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

assured  supremacy  of  right  and  freedom  before  the  law.  We  be- 
lieve that  if  the  true  character  of  our  cause  were  once  brought  home 
to  the  American  masses  American  opinion  would  support  it  warmly, 
as  British  and  French  opinion  supported  emancipation  in  1863. 

Mr.  Wilson's  note  affords  us  a  great  opportunity  for  laying  our 
case  before  Americans  in  words  which  cannot  be  misunderstood.  We 
trust  it  will  be  used  to  show,  in  sharp  contrast,  our  aims  and  the 
aims  of  our  enemies,  that  they  may  stand  out  sharp  and  clear  in 
American  eyes,  as  the  contrast  between  the  cause  of  freedom  and 
the  cause  of  bondage  stood  before  our  eyes  when  Lincoln  invoked 
the  "considerate  judgment  of  mankind"  upon  his  liberating  edict. 

The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  reported  that  in  a  speech  in  Buda- 
pest, on  New  Year's  day,  Count  Julius  Andrassy,  one  time 
Premier  of  Hungary,  said: 

If  the  Allies  reject  our  offer  of  peace  only  because,  as  they  say, 
our  offer  is  not  honorably  meant,  is  only  a  maneuver.  If  they  say 
they  cannot  enter  into  negotiations  before  they  know  our  conditions, 
they  can  learn  them  from  President  Wilson,  to  whom  they  will  be 
communicated. 

While  the  press  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was 
guessing  what  would  be  the  Entente  reply,  Ambassador  Gerard, 
who  had  just  returned  to  Berlin  from  a  visit  to  Washington, 
was  dined  by  the  American  Association  of  Commerce  and 
Trade.  Dignitaries  of  all  sorts  were  present:  Dr.  Helfferich, 
Imperial  Vice  Chancellor ;  the  Vice  President  of  the  Reichstag ; 
the  Secretaries  for  the  Colonies ;  the  Foreign  Secretary ;  bankers, 
financiers,  leaders  in  public  life.  To  them  the  Ambassador  was 
reported  to  have  said: 

Never  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  have  the  relations  between 
Germany  and  the  United  States  been  as  cordial  as  now.  I  have 
brought  back  an  olive  branch  from  the  President,  or  don't  you  con- 
sider the  President's  message  an  olive  branch?  I  personally  am  con- 
vinced that  so  long  as  Germany's  fate  is  directed  by  such  men  as  my 
friend  the  Chancellor  and  Doctor  Helfferich  and  Doctor  Solf,  by 
Admirals  von  Capelle,  Holtzendorff  and  von  Mueller,  by  Generals 
von  Hindenburg  and  Ludendorff,  and  last,  but  not  least,  by  my  friend 
Zimmermann,  the  relations  between  the  two  countries  are  running 
no  risk. 

In  Germany  the  speech  was  welcomed,  as  a  proof  of  the 
wish  for  a  continuance  of  good  understanding,  but  was  hotly 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  301 

attacked  by  the  Pan-Germans.  Why,  said  one,  should  Ameri- 
cans not  be  filled  with  kindly  feelings  for  Germany  so  long  as 
she  does  everything  America  wishes?  He  asserts  that  no  dif- 
ficulties will  arise  while  a  number  of  specially  mentioned  men 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  German  Government.  He  thereby  inti- 
mates that  any  departure  from  directions  hitherto  followed 
may  endanger  the  existing  friendship.  Such  peace  messages 
are  suspicious.  In  saying  that  so  long  as  certain  men  remain 
in  office  there  is  no  danger  of  unfriendly  relations,  Gerard's 
words,  said  another  journal,  must  be  filled  out  thus,  "but  if 
other  men  come  who  do  not  suit  us,  then  the  threat  is  unmis- 
takable." "From  the  Ambassador's  words  it  must  be  concluded 
that  a  far-reaching,  unpublished  agreement  exists  between  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States,  and  the  latter  country  having 
reached  its  political  aim  regarding  Germany,  the  fact  is  being 
celebrated  in  Berlin  by  a  great  demonstration." 

To  these  criticisms  a  reply  was  made  in  a  dispatch  from 
Berlin  to  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung,  a  dispatch  said  to  have  been 
semi-official  or  inspired  by  Government.  The  Pan-Germans,  it 
said,  "see  ghosts  when  they  show  such  anxiety  about  an  under- 
standing pending  with  the  United  States  as  to  how  ruthless  sub- 
marine warfare  may  be  avoided. 

"The  majority  of  the  German  press  and  people  desire  good 
relations  with  the  United  States,  and  would  rejoice  if  an  agree- 
ment were  reached  on  the  question  of  armed  merchantmen. 
Count  von  Reventlow's  assumption  that  the  dinner  in  Berlin 
celebrated  the  attainment  by  the  United  States  of  its  political 
ends  is  an  exaggeration  both  of  the  occasion  and  of  what  is  now 
negotiating  between  Germany  and  the  United  States."  The 
mention  by  name  of  German  statesmen,  generals  and  admirals 
was  perhaps  not  diplomatic  but  was  well  meant. 

That  it  was  not  diplomatic  seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of 
Secretary  Lansing  who  let  it  be  known  that  the  Ambassador 
had  been  called  on  to  state  if  his  speech  had  been  correctly  re- 
ported. In  any  event,  what  he  said  was  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility. 

And  now  the  long-awaited  reply  of  the  Allies  to  the  Presi; 
dent's  note  was  announced  as  ready.  Dispatches  from  London 
and  Paris  on  January  tenth  stated  that  Premier  Briand  had 


302     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

delivered  it  to  Ambassador  Sharp,  and  that  it  would  not  be 
made  public  until  forty-eight  hours  after  its  receipt  by  the 
President.  January  12,  accordingly,  it  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers. 

The  Allies,  the  note  set  forth,  heartily  approved  of  the  crea- 
tion of  a  league  of  nations  to  insure  peace  and  justice  through- 
out the  world,  and  desired  as  sincerely  as  did  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  end  as  soon  as  possible  a  war  for  which 
the  Central  Powers  were  responsible  and  which  inflicted  such 
cruel  sufferings  on  humanity.  But  they  did  not  believe  it  pos- 
sible, at  that  time,  to  obtain  such  a  peace  as  would  assure  rep- 
arations, restitutions,  and  such  guarantees  as  were  necessary  to 
establish  the  future  of  European  nations  on  a  solid  basis. 

The  Allies  were  fully  aware  of  the  losses  and  suffering  the 
war  was  causing  to  neutrals,  and  deplored  them ;  but  were  not 
responsible,  for  in  no  way  had  they  either  desired  or  provoked 
the  war.  The  Allies  must  therefore,  "in  the  most  friendly  but 
in  the  most  specific  manner,  protest  against  the  association  in 
the  American  note  of  the  two  groups  of  belligerents,  an  asso- 
ciation based  on  public  declarations  of  the  Central  Powers,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  evidence  both  as  regards  responsibility 
for  the  past  and  as  concerns  guarantees  for  the  future." 

No  fact  was  better  established  than  "the  willful  aggression 
of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  to  insure  their  hegemony 
over  Europe  and  their  economic  domination  over  the  world. 
Germany  proved  by  her  declaration  of  war,  by  the  immediate 
invasion  of  Belgium  and  Luxemburg,  and  by  her  manner  of 
conducting  the  war,  her  systematic  contempt  for  all  principles 
of  humanity  and  all  respect  for  small  states."  Was  it  neces- 
sary to  recall  the  invasion  of  Serbia  and  Belgium;  the  mas- 
sacre of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Armenians;  the  barbarous 
treatment  of  the  people  of  Syria;  the  Zeppelin  raids  on  open 
towns ;  the  sinking,  by  submarines,  of  passenger  steamships  and 
merchantmen  under  neutral  flags;  the  cruel  treatment  of 
prisoners  of  war ;  the  judicial  murders  of  Edith  Cavell  and  Cap- 
tain Fryatt ;  the  deportation  and  enslavement  of  civilians  ?  All 
these  crimes  would  fully  explain  to  President  Wilson  the  pro- 
test of  the  Allies  against  being  grouped  with  the  Central  Powers. 

But  the  President  wished  that  the  belligerent  Powers  state 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  SOS 

what  they  sought  by  continuing  the  war.  They  sought  the  "res- 
toration of  Belgium,  of  Serbia,  of  Montenegro,  and  the  in- 
demnities due  them;  the  evacuation  of  the  invaded  territories 
of  France,  Russia,  and  Roumania,  with  just  reparation";  the 
"reorganization  of  Europe  guaranteed  by  a  stable  regime,  and 
founded  as  much  on  respect  of  nationalities  and  full  security 
and  liberty  of  economic  development"  as  upon  "territorial  con- 
ventions and  international  conventions  and  international  agree- 
ments." 

They  demanded  the  restoration  of  provinces  wrested  from 
the  Allies  in  the  past;  the  liberation  of  Italians,  Slavs,  Rou- 
manians, Tcheco  Slovaks  from  foreign  domination;  "the  en- 
franchisement of  peoples  subject  to  the  bloody  tyranny  of  the 
Turks,"  and  the  expulsion  from  Europe  of  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire. 

With  the  note  from  the  Entente  Powers  came  one  from 
Belgium.  The  Government  of  the  King,  it  said,  desired  to  pay 
tribute  "to  the  sentiment  which  prompted  the  President  of  the 
Unitecl  States  to  send  his  note  to  the  belligerent  Powers."  But 
the  President  seemed  "to  believe  that  the  statesmen  of  the  two 
opposing  camps  pursue  the  same  objects  of  war."  The  example 
of  Belgium  unhappily  showed  this  was  not  the  case.  The  barbar- 
ous manner  in  which  Germany  had  treated,  and  was  still  treat- 
ing, Belgium,  did  not  justify  the  belief  that  Germany  would 
guarantee  in  the  future  the  rights  of  the  weak  nations  she  had 
not  ceased  to  trample  under  foot  since  the  war  began.  When  an- 
nouncing to  the  Reichstag  the  violation  of  treaties  by  the  in- 
vasion of  Belgium  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  had  been 
forced  to  recognize  the  iniquity  of  the  act  and  had  promised 
reparation.  But,  since  the  occupation  the  Germans  had  shown 
no  better  observance  of  international  law  or  the  stipulations  of 
The  Hague  convention.  They  had  by  taxation,  as  heavy  as  it 
was  arbitrary,  drained  the  resources  of  the  country;  they  had 
deliberately  ruined  its  industries,  destroyed  entire  cities,  put  to 
death  a  large  number  of  the  people,  and  while  loudly  proclaim- 
ing their  desire  to  end  the  horrors  of  war  had  added  to  rigors  of 
occupation  by  deporting  into  slavery  thousands  of  Belgian  work- 
ers. If  ever  there  was  a  country  that  had  a  right  to  say  it  had 
taken  up  arms  to  defend  its  life  that  country,  was  Belgium. 


304     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Forced  to  fight  or  submit  to  shame,  she  passionately  desired  that 
an  end  be  put  to  the  unprecedented  sufferings  of  her  people ;  but 
she  could  accept  no  peace  which  did  not  assure  her  reparation, 
security  and  guarantees  for  the  future. 

On  the  day  on  which  Ambassador  Sharp,  at  Paris,  received 
these  two  notes  from  the  Entente  Powers,  Ambassador  Gerard 
at  Berlin  was  handed  a  copy  of  a  note  addressed  to  neutral  na- 
tions by  the  Central  Powers.  It  was  their  reply  to  the  answer 
of  the  Allies  to  the  German  peace  proposals  of  December 
twelfth. 

"Our  adversaries,"  so  ran  the  note,  "declined  this  proposi- 
tion, giving  as  a  reason  that  it  is  a  proposition  without  sincerity 
and  without  importance.  The  form  in  which  they  clothe  their 
communication  excludes  an  answer  to  them,  but  the  Imperial 
Government  considers  it  important  to  point  out  to  the  Govern- 
ments of  neutral  Powers  its  opinion  regarding  the  situation." 

It  was  needless  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  origin  of  the 
war.  The  encircling  policy  of  England,  the  revengeful  policy 
of  France,  the  endeavor  of  Russia  to  gain  Constantinople,  the 
instigation  of  the  Serbian  assassination  in  Serajevo,  and  the 
complete  mobilization  of  Russia  meant  war  against  Germany. 
According  to  the  declaration  of  the  responsible  statesmen  of  the 
hostile  Powers  their  aims  were  "directed  toward  the  conquest 
of  Alsace-Lorraine  and  several  Prussian  provinces,  the  humilia- 
tion and  diminution  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy,  the 
partition  of  Turkey  and  the  mutilation  of  Bulgaria. 

"In  the  face  of  such  war  aims,  the  demand  for  restitution, 
reparation  and  guarantees  in  the  mouth  of  our  adversaries"  was 
surprising.  The  Allies  had  declared  that  peace  was  impossible 
"so  long  as  the  reestablishment  of  violated  rights  and  liberties, 
the  recognition  of  the  principle  of  nationalities  and  the  free 
existence  of  small  states  were  not  guaranteed."  The  sincerity 
of  the  Allies  would  not  be  admitted  by  the  world,  while  it  held 
before  its  eyes  "the  fate  of  the  Jrish  people,  the  destruction  of 
the  Boer  republics,  the  subjugation  of  northern  Africa  by  Eng- 
land, France  and  Italy,  the  suppression  of  Russian  alien  nations, 
and  the  violation  of  Greece,  which  is  without  precedent  in  his- 
tory." 

The  war  of  starvation  against  Germany,  the  treatment  of 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  305 

neutrals  by  England,  the  use  of  colored  troops  in  Europe,  the 
extension  of  the  war  to  Africa,  the  barbarous  treatment  of 
prisoners  of  war  in  Africa  and  Russia,  the  deportation  of 
civilian  populations  from  eastern  Prussia,  Alsace-Lorraine, 
Galicia,  and  Bukowina  were  so  many  proofs  of  the  insincerity 
of  the  Allies  in  their  complaint  against  the  situation  in  Belgium. 
On  Belgium  and  those  who  instigated  her  to  take  her  attitude 
fell  the  responsibility  for  her  fate. 

Having  made  an  honest  effort  to  end  the  war  and  open  the 
way  for  an  understanding  between  the  belligerents,  the  Imperial 
Government  left  it  with  its  adversaries  to  decide  whether  the 
road  to  peace  should,  or  should  not  be  followed. 

Various  opinions  were  held  by  our  countrymen  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  Entente  reply.  Some  thought  it  a  frank  and 
specific  answer  to  the  request  of  the  President,  and  compared  it 
favorably  with  the  flat  refusal  of  Germany  to  state  terms. 
Others  held  that  while  it  met  the  President  half  way,  it  set 
forth  clearly  that  the  Allies  were  fighting  for  a  cause,  that  they 
were  unwilling  to  make  peace  until  they  had  accomplished  the 
objects  for  which  they  were  pledged,  that  no  compromise  was 
possible,  and  that  for  the  present  the  door  was  closed  to  peace. 
Still  others  claimed  that  stripped  of  its  diplomatic  language 
the  note  was  as  blunt  a  rebuke  to  the  President  for  meddling  as 
was  the  note  from  Germany. 

The  delivery  of  the  reply  from  the  Entente  Powers  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  note  from  Great  Britain  supplementing  and  ex- 
plaining that  from  the  Allies.  It  was  signed  by  Balfour,  the 
British  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  brought  to  the  De- 
partment of  State  by  the  British  Minister. 

His  Majesty's  Government  shared  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
President  for  a  speedy  and  lasting  peace;  but  no  peace  could 
long  endure  if  the  foundations  were  defective.  The  calamities 
from  which  the  world  was  suffering  arose  from  the  existence  of 
great  Powers  consumed  by  the  lust  of  dominion,  in  the  midst 
of  nations  ill  prepared  for  defense,  and  though  plentifully  sup- 
plied with  international  laws,  with  no  means  of  enforcing  them ; 
nations  whose  boundaries  and  internal  constitutions  did  not 
harmonize  with  the  aspirations  of  their  constituent  races.  This 
latter  evil  could  be  mitigated  if  the  Allies  secured  the  changes 


in  the  map  of  Europe  outlined  in  their  joint  note.  The  exis- 
tence of  the  Turkish  empire  had  long  been  considered  essential 
to  the  peace  of  Europe.  It  could  no  longer  be  so  considered. 
In  the  hands  of  Germany  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  bulwark  of  peace 
and  had  become  an  instrument  of  conquest.  Led  by  German  of- 
ficers, Turkish  soldiers  were  fighting  in  lands  from  which  they 
had  long  ago  been  expelled.  A  Turkish  Government  con- 
trolled and  subsidized  by  Germany  had  perpetrated  in  Armenia 
and  Syria  massacres  more  horrible  than  any  ever  before  known 
in  those  unhappy  countries.  Evidently  the  interests  of  peace 
require  the  expulsion  of  Turkey  from  Europe  as  much  as  the 
restoration  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  France,  or  Italia  Irredenta  to 
Jtaly. 

These  territorial  changes  would  lessen  the  occasion  for  war, 
but  would  afford  no  security  against  its  recurrence.  If  Ger- 
many again  set  out  to  rule  the  world  she  might  find  war  more 
difficult  but  not  impossible,  she  might  still  have  ready  at  hand 
a  political  system  organized  through  and  through  on  a  military 
basis ;  she  might  still  persist  in  her  methods  of  attack  and  strike 
down  her  more  pacific  neighbors  before  they  could  prepare  for 
defense.  If  so,  Europe,  when  the  war  is  over,  would  be  poorer 
in  men,  in  money,  in  good  will,  than  when  it  began,  but  no  safer, 
and  the  hope  of  the  President  for  the  future  of  the  world  would 
be  as  far  as  ever  from  realization.  WJiile  other  nations,  while 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  were  seeking  by  treaties 
of  arbitration  to  make  sure  that  no  chance  quarrel  should  de- 
stroy the  peace  they  wished  to  be  everlasting,  Germany  stood 
aloof.  Her  philosophers  and  historians  preached  the  splendors 
of  war,  and  proclaimed  power  as  the  end  of  the  State,  and  her 
General  Staff  forged  the  weapons  by  which  power  might  be  ob- 
tained. So  long  as  Germany  remained  the  Germany  which 
without  the  shadow  of  justification  overran  and  barbarously  ill- 
used  a  country  she  was  bound  by  treaty  to  protect,  no  state  could 
be  secure  if  its  rights  had  no  better  protection  than  a  treaty. 

The  brutal  methods  of  the  Central  Powers  were  designed 
not  merely  to  crush  into  the  dust  those  with  whom  they  were  at 
war,  but  to  terrorize  those  with  whom  they  were  at  peace.  Bel- 
gium was  not  only  a  victim,  but  an  example.  It  was  intended 
that  neutrals  should  note  the  outrages  which  accompanied  its 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  307 

occupation,  the  reign  of  terror,  the  deportation  of  some  of  the 
people,  the  oppression  of  the  rest.  And  lest  nations,  protected 
by  the  British  fleets  or  their  own,  should  think  themselves  safe 
from  German  methods,  the  submarine  imitated  the  barbarous 
methods  of  the  army. 

No  peace  could  last  unless  the  existing  causes  of  interna- 
tional unrest  were  removed  or  weakened ;  unless  the  aggressive 
aims  and  unscrupulous  methods  of  the  Central  Powers  should 
fall  into  disrepute  among  their  own  people ;  unless  behind  inter- 
national law,  behind  all  treaties  for  preventing  hostilities  some 
form  of  international  sanction  should  be  devised  which  would 
make  the  hardiest  aggressor  pause. 

The  very  day  this  note  was  delivered  at  Washington,  the 
British  Admiralty  announced  that  a  German  raider  was  in  the 
Atlantic,  that  it  had  sunk  eight  British  and  two  French  mer- 
chantmen, and  had  captured  two,  that  "the  Japanese  Hudson 
Maru"  had  reached  Pernambuco  with  237  officers  and  men  from 
the  lost  ships,  and  that  the  others,  some  450  in  number,  had 
been  placed  on  the  captured  steamer  Yarrowdale. 

The  captain  of  the  Dramatist,  one  of  the  ships  destroyed 
by  the  raider,  on  reaching  Pernambuco  on  the  Hudson  Maru, 
stated  that  December  18  he  sighted  a  steamer  going  in  the  same 
direction  as  his ;  that  early  in  the  afternoon  she  drew  alongside, 
broke  out  the  German  naval  ensign,  dropped  her  sides  under 
the  forecastle  bulwarks,  revealing  two  guns  trained  on  the 
Dramatist,  and  called  on  him  to  surrender.  The  Dramatist  was 
then  boarded  and,  after  her  crew  was  transferred  to  the  raider, 
was  torpedoed.  Later  part  of  the  crew  was  sent  to  the  Hudson 
Maru  and  orders  given  to  follow  the  raider  till  January  12  and 
then  proceed  to  Pernambuco.  Reports  from  Buenos  Aires 
added  eleven  ships,  British,  French  and  Danish,  to  the  list  given 
out  by  the  Admiralty.  The  Yarrowdale  with  469  prisoners,  of 
whom  72  were  Americans,  reached  a  German  port  in  safety. 

To  the  astonishment  of  the  country  the  President  now 
appeared,  unexpectedly,  before  the  Senate,  and  delivered  an 
address  which  amazed  Europe. 

On  December  18,  he  said,  he  addressed  an  "identical  note" 
to  the  Governments  of  all  nations  at  war,  asking  for  a  more 
definite  statement  than  had  vet  been  made  of  the  terms  on 


808     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

which  it  would  be  possible  to  make  peace.  He  "spoke  on 
behalf  of  humanity,  of  the  rights  of  all  neutral  nations,"  many 
of  whose  "vital  interests  the  war  put  in  constant  jeopardy." 
The  Central  Powers  replied  merely  that  they  were  ready  to 
meet  their  antagonists  and  discuss  terms  of  peace.  The 
Entente  Powers  had  stated  in  general  terms  "the  arrangements, 
guarantees  and  acts  of  reparation"  necessary  to  a  settlement. 

The  peace  that  would  end  the  war  must  be  followed  by  a 
"definite  concert  of  Powers"  which  would  "make  it  virtually 
impossible  that  any  such  catastrophe  should  ever  overwhelm  us 
again."  In  that  the  United  States  must  play  a  part.  It  was 
right  before  such  a  settlement  came  that  our  Government  should 
frankly  state  the  conditions  on  which  "it  would  feel  justified  in 
asking  our  people  to  approve  its  formal  and  solemn  adherence 
to  a  League  for  Peace."  He  had  come  to  state  those  conditions. 

First  of  all  there  "must  be  a  peace  without  victory.  .  .  . 
Victory  would  mean  peace  forced  upon  the  loser,  a  victor's 
terms  forced  upon  the  vanquished.  It  would  be  accepted  in 
humiliation,  under  duress,  at  an  intolerable  sacrifice,  and  would 
leave  a  sting,  a  resentment,  a  bitter  memory  upon  which  terms 
of  peace  would  rest,  not  permanently,  but  only  upon  quicksand. 
Only  a  peace  between  equals  can  last." 

The  equality  of  nations  on  which  peace,  to  be  lasting,  must 
rest  must  be  an  equality  of  rights,  resting  "on  the  common 
strength,  not  the  individual  strength,  of  the  nations  on  whose 
concert  peace  will  depend."  But  there  was  "a  deeper  thing 
involved  than  even  equality  of  right  among  organized  nations. 
No  peace  can  last,  or  ought  to  last,  which  does  not  recognize 
and  accept  the  principle  that  governments  derive  all  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  no  right 
anywhere  exists  to  hand  peoples  about  from  sovereignty  to 
sovereignty,  as  if  they  were  property." 

He  took  it  for  granted,  to  take  one  example,  that  statesmen 
everywhere  were  "agreed  that  there  should  be  a  united,  inde- 
pendent, autonomous  Poland,  and  that  henceforth  inviolable 
security  of  life,  of  worship  and  of  industrial  and  social  devel- 
opment should  be  guaranteed  to  all  peoples  who  have  hitherto 
lived  under  the  power  of  governments  devoted  to  a  faith  and 
purpose  hostile  to  their  own." 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  309 

So  far  as  practicable  every  great  people  should  "be  assured 
a  direct  outlet  to  the  great  highways  of  the  sea.  Where  it  can- 
not be  done  by  the  cession  of  territory,  it  can  no  doubt  be  done 
by  neutralization  of  direct  highways  under  the  general  guar- 
antees which  will  assure,  the  peace  itself." 

The  "paths  of  the  sea  must  alike  in  law  and  in  fact  be  free. 
The  freedom  of  the  seas  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  peace,  equality, 
and  cooperation." 

There  must  be  concession  and  sacrifice.  No  safety  or 
equality  among  nations  was  possible  "if  great  preponderating 
armaments  are  henceforth  to  continue,  here  and  there,  to  be 
built  up  and  maintained."  The  question  of  armaments, 
whether  on  land  or  sea,  was  the  most  "intensely  practical  ques- 
tion connected  with  the  future  fortunes  of  nations  and  man- 
kind." 

He  was  sure  he  had  said  what  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  wish  him  to  say.  He  hoped  he  spoke  for  the 
friends  of  humanity  everywhere.  "I  would  fain  believe  that 
I  am  speaking  for  the  silent  masses  of  mankind  everywhere, 
who  have  as  yet  had  no  place  or  opportunity  to  speak  their 
real  hearts  out  concerning  the  death  and  ruin  they  see  to  have 
come  already  upon  the  persons  and  the  homes  they  hold  most 
dear." 

Holding  out  the  expectation  that  our  country  would  join 
the  other  civilized  nations  in  guaranteeing  the  permanence  of 
peace  on  the  terms  he  named  would,  he  thought,  be  no  breach 
in  our  traditions  or  our  policy  as  a  nation.  He  was  proposing 
"that  the  nations,  with  one  accord,  adopt  the  doctrine  of  Presi- 
dent Monroe  as  the  doctrine  of  the  world ;  that  no  nation  should 
seek  to  extend  its  policy  over  any  other  nation  or  people,  but 
that  every  people  should  be  left  free  to  determine  its  own 
policy,  its  own  development,  unhindered,  unthreatened,  un- 
afraid, the  little  along  with  the  great  and  powerful." 

He  was  "proposing  government  by  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned; that  freedom  of  the  seas  which  in  international  con- 
ference after  conference  representatives  of  the  United  States 
have  urged  with  the  eloquence  of  those  who  are  the  convinced 
disciples  of  liberty;  and  that  moderation  of  armaments  which 


310     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

makes  of  armies  and  navies  a  power  for  order  merely,  not  an 
instrument  of  aggression  or  of  selfish  violence. 

"These  are  American  principles,  American  policies.  We 
can  stand  for  no  others.  They  are  also  the  principles  and 
policies  of  forward-looking  men  and  women  everywhere,  of 
every  modern  nation,  of  every  enlightened  community.  They 
are  the  principles  of  mankind  and  must  prevail." 

By  those  who  listened  to  this  remarkable  address  it  was 
received  with  mingled  feelings  of  astonishment,  approval  and 
dissent.  Some  said  the  League  for  Peace  was  quixotic,  Utopian, 
impossible  to  be  obtained.  Others  thought  the  address  marked 
an  epoch  in  our  history,  was  the  greatest  state  paper  since  the 
famous  message  of  Monroe;  would  have  more  influence  on  the 
course  of  world  democracy  than  any  speech  ever  made  in  Con- 
gress. Still  others  declared  that  it  was  ill-timed;  that  it  was 
a  fine  literary  effort;  that  it  would  appeal  to  the  American 
people ;  that  it  would  alienate  the  Entente  Powers ;  that  it  was 
startling  in  its  proposals  and  dictatorial  in  its  suggestions. 
We  had  no  right  to  say  to  Germany,  You  must  give  up  Poland ; 
nor  to  Turkey  who  should  go  through  the  Dardanelles.  How 
would  the  words  "a  free,  independent  and  autonomous  Poland" 
be  received  by  Russia  and  Germany?  How  would  the  words 
"freedom  of  worship"  be  received  by  Russia  and  Turkey? 
Was  the  reference  to  a  direct  outlet  to  the  highway  of  the  sea  an 
approval  of  Russia's  ambition  to  obtain  Constantinople? 
"Peace  without  victory"  was  likely  to  go  down  in  history 
coupled  with  "Too  proud  to  fight."  But  how  would  the  Allies 
receive  it  after  having  just  declared  they  were  "determined, 
individually  and  collectively,  to  act  with  all  their  powers  and 
consent  to  all  sacrifices  to  bring  to  a  victorious  close  a  conflict 
upon  which  they  are  convinced  not  only  their  own  safety  and 
prosperity  depends,  but  also  the  future  of  civilization." 

By  the  press  of  the  country  the  address  was  received  in 
much  the  same  spirit.  One  journal  thought  it  the  greatest 
utterance  yet  made  by  the  President.  As  an  American  he 
spoke  American  sentiments,  and  American  principles,  and 
served  notice  to  all  the  world  that  in  the  peace  which  will  end 
the  war  our  views  must  be  consulted.  Said  another,  the  Presi- 
dent is  sworn  to  execute  the  laws;  he  is  not  sworn  to  execute 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  311 

faithfully  the  office  of  President  of  humanity.  Nothing  in  his 
official  duties  requires  him  to  demand  a  free  and  united  Poland, 
nor  lay  down  the  principles  in  accordance  with  which  Switzer- 
land shall  have  free  access  to  the  sea.  If  peace  without  vic- 
tory means  anything,  said  a  third,  it  means  a  peace  bearing 
the  hallmark  "Made  in  Prussia." 

According  to  others  it  was  a  masterly  address,  a  shining 
ideal  seemingly  unattainable,  while  passion  ruled  the  world, 
but  expressing  the  hopes  of  nations,  great  and  small.  A  Mon- 
roe doctrine  embracing  the  earth,  a  league  of  peace  including 
every  nation,  was  no  idle  dream.  The  Illinois  Staats-Zeitung 
declared  the  President  had  "lost  all  moral  authority  to  make 
demands  on  the  nations  at  war  from  the  standpoint  of  morality, 
because  of  his  unneutral  policy  and  his  direct  protection  to 
munition  and  blood  usury."  The  New  York  German  Her  old 
remarked  that  "Mr.  Wilson's  Anglophile  leanings  are  so  well 
known  that  any  alliance  proposition  he  advances  should  be  well 
subjected  to  close  scrutiny." 

By  the  London  journals  the  speech  was  published  under 
such  headlines  as:  "Wilson's  Speech.  Hostile  United  States 
Attitude";  "Wilson's  Astonishing  speech";  "Wilson's  Speech, 
Neither  Side  Must  Win,  Victory  Ruled  Out" ;  "Peace  Without 
Victory";  "Wilson's  Surprising  Declaration  for  Peace  With- 
out Victory  Pleases  Germans."  The  Daily  Mail  thought  the 
address  "an  abstract  pontifical  statement  of  a  future  interna- 
tional morality" ;  searched  in  vain  "for  any  expression  of  sym- 
pathy with  those  who  are  shedding  their  blood  for  freedom"; 
wondered  "whether  he  spoke  as  the  head  of  an  American  Uni- 
versity or  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  flesh  and  blood  Repub- 
lic" ;  and  could  only  envy  him  his  remoteness  from  the  reality 
of  war  when  he  spoke  of  peace  without  victory.  Germany  had 
declared  treaties  scraps  of  paper.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
learn  from  the  President  how  she  is  to  be  induced  to  keep 
any  treaties  of  peace  if  she  is  not  defeated. 

The  Globe,  after  reminding  the  President  that  he  made  no 
protest  when  Belgium  was  invaded,  and  merely  wrote  a  note 
when  the  Lusitania  was  sunk,  asked  him  what  he  had  done  for 
justice  and  humanity  that  he  should  now  presume  "to  school 
us"  in  the  mighty  conflict  from  which  he  had  most  carefully 


kept  aloof.  The  men  who  tore  up  the  scrap  of  paper  laughed 
at  his  notes,  and  sank  more  ships,  respected  force  and  nothing 
else.  Peace  had  no  attraction  for  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  if  it 
left  the  perjured  enemy  fleets  and  armies.  Victory  was  essen- 
tial for  safety.  Lord  Northcliffe  said  Englishmen  were  puz- 
zled to  know  why  the  President  did  not  begin  by  pacifying 
little  Mexico.  The  President's  misunderstanding  of  the  situa- 
tion was  due  to  German  propaganda  and  geographical  distance. 
Baron  Sydenham  believed  the  President  saw,  as  in  a  vision,  "a 
new  world  in  which  there  shall  be  no  preparation  for  war,  but 
a  solid  union  of  all  peoples  acting  in  the  common  interest." 
Unless  Germany  was  defeated  not  one  of  his  demands  could 
be  fulfilled,  and  his  roseate  vision  would  fade  into  oblivion. 
"Reparation  and  restitution  to  France,  Russia,  Belgium, 
Serbia,  were  not  possible  until  Germany  acknowledged  defeat." 

Hall  Caine  told  the  readers  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger 
that  the  first  expression  of  opinion  in  France  and  Britain 
had  been  "that  of  scarcely  disguised  disdain."  But  the  Presi- 
dent need  not  be  troubled  on  that  account.  "From  the  days 
of  Joseph  downward  ridicule  had  been  the  first  heritage  of  all 
exalted  dreamers.  Let  President  Wilson  take  heart  from  the 
first  reception  of  his  remarkable  speech."  The  "best  opinion 
here  is  one  of  deep  feeling  and  profound  admiration."  He  for 
one  had  found  it  profoundly  moving.  Two  facts  were  of  high 
significance:  that  the  President  based  his  plan  of  future  wel- 
fare on  the  supremacy  of  moral  law;  that  he  claimed  to  speak 
for  the  first  time  for  the  voiceless  masses.  "To  all  persons  with 
the  historic  sense  there  is  something  inexpressibly  pitiful  in 
the  spectacle  of  the  silent  procession  of  the  simple  people  in 
all  ages  who  have  no  part  in  making  wars  and  yet  suffer  most 
from  them."  Could  the  present  war,  with  a  full  knowledge 
of  the  merits  of  the  quarrel,  be  referred  to  the  twenty  voice- 
less millions  actually  engaged  in  it,  the  battlefields  would  prob- 
ably be  deserted  within  a  week. 

John  Dillon,  the  Irish  leader,  declared  the  speech  was 
"unquestionably  the  most  remarkable  and  momentous  utter- 
ance by  the  ruler  of  a  great  power  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years."  The  President  did  speak  for  liberals  and  friends  of 
humanity  everywhere.  No  peace  could  last  or  ought  to  last 


THE  PEACE  NOTES  313 

that  did  not  recognize  the  principle  that  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  "Coming 
at  such  a  crisis  from  the  President  of  the  United  States,  these 
words  will  strike  deep  into  the  hearts  of  all  lovers  of  liberty 
throughout  the  world." 

"We  flatly  refuse,"  said  a  German  newspaper  published  in 
Cologne,  "to  accept  the  President's  watchword,  'Peace  with- 
out Victory,'  or  his  intolerable  pretensions  for  a  united,  inde- 
pendent, autonomous  Poland."  "Peace  without  victory" 
means,  said  another  journal,  "that  the  great  gains  made  by 
the  Central  Powers  would  be  taken  away.  It  means  that 
Poland,  liberated  by  German  blood,  would  be  able  to  pursue 
a  policy  hostile  to  Germany." 

"Peace  without  victory,"  said  the  Tages  Zeitung,  meant  the 
ruin  of  the  German  Empire.  Neutralization  of  the  Darda- 
nelles meant  the  ruin  of  the  Turkish  Empire  and  the  eastern 
policy  of  Germany.  The  speech,  said  another,  is  a  theoretical 
utterance,  a  political  and  academic  utterance.  Germans  must 
decline  to  recognize  him  as  a  framer  of  the  European  map, 
nor  can  they  accept  his  prescription  that  they  must  end  the  war 
without  victory.  They  were  ready  to  make  peace  with  the 
Allies  and  with  them  alone,  because  they  recognized  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  for  Americans  and  claimed  a  like  doctrine  for  Eu- 
rope. One  journal  was  .surprised  that  such  dreamy  philo- 
sophical ideas  should  be  held  by  the  President  of  practical 
America.  Others  were  sarcastic  and  told  him,  oolitely,  to 
mind  his  own  business,  asked  if  they  were  to  understand,  if 
the  peace  when  made  did  not  suit  him,  he  would  refuse  "to 
play  in  our  yard,"  and  told  him  they  would  discuss  his  ideals 
after  they  had  thrashed  the  enemy. 

A  French  journal  called  the  President's  idea  an  Utopia  and 
would  .support  it  if  he  could  find  human  beings  fit  to  people 
his  land  of  promise.  Generally  in  France  the  speech  was 
received  as  inspired  by  good  will,  and  a  desire  to  lead  to  bet- 
ter conditions  in  Europe.  A  Swiss  journal  thought  the  spirit 
of  the  speech  suggested  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah.  In  the 
Canadian  Senate  a  resolution  was  introduced  that  "in  the 
opinon  of  the  Senate  of  Canada  only  representatives  of  na- 


314.     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

tions  which  have  taken  part  or  have  been  engaged  in  the  present 
war  should  participate  in  the  negotiations  for  peace." 

In  our  own  Senate  a  resolution  was  offered  that  Monday, 
January  29,  should  be  set  apart  for  a  full  and  free  discussion 
of  the  speech.  An  attempt  made  by  the  Democratic  leaders 
to  smother  the  resolution  in  committee  was  met  by  the  deter- 
mination of  the  Republicans  to  have  a  full  discussion  of  the 
President's  proposal  that  the  United  States  enter  a  league  for 
the  enforcement  of  peace,  and  of  what  they  considered  the 
abandonment  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  time-honored 
policy  of  no  entangling  alliances.  The  resolution  went  on  the 
calendar,  and  on  January  30  was  laid  on  the  table. 


CHAPTER  XII 

DIPLOMATIC    RELATIONS    BBOKEN 

AND  now  all  this  discussion  of  peace,  and  the  terms  of 
peace,  and  ways  to  enforce  peace  came  to  a  sudden  end  when, 
on  January  31,  1917,  the  German  Ambassador  presented  a 
note  announcing  the  immediate  resumption  of  ruthless  sub- 
marine warfare. 

The  Imperial  Government,  the  Ambassador  said,  had  care- 
fully considered  the  message  of  the  President  to  the  Senate 
on  January  22,  and  was  gratified  to  know  that  "the  main  tend- 
encies of  this  important  statement  corresponded  largely  to  the 
desires  and  principles  professed  by  Germany.  These  princi- 
ples especially  included  self-government  and  equality  of  rights 
of  all  nations. 

"Germany  would  be  sincerely  glad  if,  in  recognition  of  this 
principle,  countries  like  (Ireland  and  India,  which  do  not  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  political  independence,  should  now  obtain  their 
freedom.  The  German  people  also  repudiate  all  alliances  which 
serve  to  force  the  countries  into  a  competition  for  might  and 
to  involve  them  in  a  net  of  selfish  intrigue." 

Freedom  of  the  seas,  the  Ambassador  continued,  had  always 
been  one  of  the  leading  principles  of  Germany's  political  pro- 
gram. But  the  attitude  of  her  enemies,  entirely  opposed  to 
peace,  made  it  impossible  to  realize  these  lofty  ideals.  As 
to  Belgium,  Germany  had  never  intended  to  annex  her.  The 
peace  to  be  signed  with  her  was  to  provide  for  such  conditions 
as  should  prevent  her  ever  again  being  used  for  hostile  pur- 
poses against  Germany. 

The  attempts  of  the  four  Central  Powers  to  bring  about 
peace  had  failed  because  of  the  lust  of  conquest  of  their  ene- 
mies. Their  real  aims  in  the  war  were  the  dismemberment  and 
dishonor  of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria. 
"They  desire  a  fight  to  the  bitter  end." 

315 


"A  new  situation  has  thus  been  created  which  forces  Ger- 
many to  new  decisions."  During  two  and  a  half  years  the 
Entente  Powers,  led  by  England,  had  sought  to  force  Germany 
into  submission  by  starvation,  and  insisted  on  continuing  this 
war  of  starvation.  Thus  forced  to  fight  for  existence  the  Impe- 
rial Government  could  not  neglect  "the  full  employment  of 
all  the  weapons  which  are  at  its  disposal." 

Two  memoranda  accompanied  the  note.  In  one  the  United 
States  was  informed  what  weapon  was  to  be  used. 

Germany  has  so  far  not  made  unrestricted  use  of  the  weapon 
which  she  possesses  in  her  submarines.  Since  the  Entente  Powers, 
however,  have  made  it  impossible  to  come  to  an  understanding  based 
on  equality  of  rights  of  all  nations,  as  proposed  by  the  Central 
Powers,  and  have  instead  declared  only  such  a  peace  to  be  possible 
as  shall  be  dictated  by  the  Entente  Powers,  and  shall  result  in  the 
destruction  and  humiliation  of  the  Central  Powers,  Germany  is 
unable  further  to  forego  the  full  use  of  her  submarines. 

The  United  States  it  was  expected  would  understand  the 
situation  thus  forced  on  Germany,  and  "that  the  now  openly 
disclosed  intention  of  the  Entente  Allies  gives  back  to  Ger- 
many the  freedom  of  action  which  she  reserved  in  her  note 
addressed  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  on  May 
4,  1916." 

Under  these  circumstances  Germany  will  meet  the  illegal  meas- 
ures of  her  enemies  by  forcibly  preventing,  after  February  1,  1917,  in 
a  zone  around  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy  and  the  eastern  Medi- 
terranean, all  navigation,  that  of  neutrals  included,  from  and  to 
England,  from  and  to  France,  etc.  All  ships  met  within  that  zone  will 
be  sunk. 

Another  memorandum  defined  the  boundaries  of  the  barred 
zones,  and  the  open  routes  through  them,  and  stated  the  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  American  shipping: 

"Sailing  of  regular  American  passenger  steamships  may  continue 
undisturbed  after  February  1, 1917,  if — 

"(a)    The  port  of  destination  is  Falmouth. 

"(b)  Sailing  to,  or  coming  from  that  port  course  is  taken  via  the 
Scilly  Islands  and  a  point  50  degrees  north,  20  degrees  west. 

"(c)  The  steamships  are  marked  in  the  following  way,  which 
must  not  be  allowed  to  other  vessels  in  American  ports.  On  ship's 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN 


317 


hull  and  superstructure  three  vertical  stripes,  one  meter  wide  each, 
to  be  painted  alternately  white  and  red.  Each  mast  should  show  a 
large  flag  checkered  white  and  red  and  the  stern  the  American 
national  flag.  Care  should  be  taken  that,  during  dark,  national  flag 
and  painted  marks  are  easily  recognizable  from  a  distance,  and  that 
the  boats  are  well  lighted  throughout. 

"(d)  One  steamship  a  week  sails  in  each  direction,  with  arrival 
at  Falmouth  on  Sunday  and  departure  from  Falmouth  on  Wednesday. 

(e)  The  United  States  Government  guarantees  that  no  contra- 
band (according  to  German  contraband  list)  is  carried  by  those  steam- 
ships." 


German  boundaries  of  the  barred  zones. 

The  line  marking  out  the  barred  zone  around  the  British 
Islands  started  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Scheldt,  ran  north- 


318     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ward  twenty  miles  off  the  Dutch  coast  to  the  Terschelling  Light- 
ship, and  then  north  to  the  TJdsir  Lightship  twenty  miles  off 
the  coast  of  Norway.  Thence  it  curved  northward,  and  west- 
ward, dipping  under  the  Faroe  Islands,  and  keeping  to  the 
west  of  the  British  Isles,  swept  southward  and  eastward  to  a 
point  twenty  miles  from  Cape  Finisterre  and  followed  the 
north  coast  of  Spain,  twenty  miles  from  shore,  to  the  French 
houndary.  Not  a  port  on  the  western  and  northern  coast  of 
France  from  the  Spanish  boundary  to  Belgium,  not  a  port  in 
Belgium  nor  in  the  British  Isles  was  open  to  our  vessels  save 
Falmouth,  to  which  passenger  ships  might  proceed  through  a 
lane  twenty  miles  wide  along  the  fiftieth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude. 

In  the  Mediterranean  the  line  was  drawn  southward  from 
Point  de  1'Espiquette  to  the  intersection  of  longitude  6°  east 
with  latitude  38°  20'  north.  Point  de  1'Espiquette  is  some 
twenty-two  miles  east  of  Cette  and  some  sixty  west  of  Mar- 
seilles. From  this  point  the  south  coast  of  France  was  open 
along  the  Gulf  of  Lyons  to  the  Spanish  border,  but  on  this 
coast  there  is  no  port  of  importance  save  Cette.  To  the  west- 
ward of  the  Point  de  1'Espiquette  line  the  entire  Mediterranean 
Sea  was  blockaded  save  for  a  safety  lane  twenty  miles  wide 
which  wound  through  the  zone  to  Greece.  The  north  coast  of 
Africa  was  barred  eastward  from  Cape  Kalos. 

Our  country  had  now  received  its  orders.  Had  the  German 
armies  been  in  possession  of  every  foot  of  our  soil  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  these  orders  could  not  have  been  more 
tyrannical.  No  "Avis,"  no  "Proclamation,"  no  "Ordre"  signed 
by  von  Bissing,  or  von  der  Goltz,  or  von  Billow  and  pasted  on 
the  walls  of  Brussels,  or  Liege,  was  written  more  in  the  spirit 
of  the  conqueror.  Once  each  week  one  passenger  steamship, 
striped  like  a  barber's  pole,  and  flying  at  each  masthead  a  flag 
resembling  the  kitchen  tablecloths  of  bygone  days,  might  leave 
one  port  of  the  United  States,  and  making  its  way  along  a  pre- 
scribed course,  enter  a  specified  port  in  England  on  a  Sabbath 
day,  or  be  sunk  without  warning.  The  gravity  of  the  situation 
alone  prevented  such  a  spectacle  from  being  laughable. 

That  the  Imperial  Government  supposed  we  would  submit 
is  impossible  to  believe.  The  President  in  his  Sussex  note  had 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  319 

said:  "Unless  the  Imperial  Government  should  now  immedi- 
ately declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its  present  methods 
of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger  and  freight  carrying 
vessels,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  have  no  choice 
but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the  German  Empire 
altogether." 

That  diplomatic  relations  would  now  be  severed  was  fully 
expected.  Count  von  Bernstorff,  it  was  said,  must  be  handed 
his  passports.  The  President  has  no  other  choice.  He  must 
do  this  or  swallow  his  own  words.  All  differences  that  may 
have  existed  now  vanish.  The  American  people  stand  behind 
him  as  one  man.  With  the  Government  showing  a  resolute 
front  and  the  people  united  behind  it,  we  have  little  to  fear. 
The  German  note  shatters  the  last  hope  that  the  nation  that 
considers  treaties  scraps  of  paper  and  violated  Belgium  will 
stand  by  her  half  promises  to  us.  We  must  break  relations 
with  Germany  or  make  an  abject  surrender.  The  case  is  sim- 
ple; the  course  is  plain. 

Germany  has  deliberately  defied  the  ultimatum  of  April  19. 
There  can  be  but  one  answer,  and  that  answer  should  be  made 
at  once.  It  is  no  time  to  parley.  The  challenge  should  be 
accepted  within  twenty-four  hours  and  the  war  thus  begun 
should  not  end  till  the  imperial  despotism  of  Germany  is  com- 
pletely and  forever  crushed. 

The  German  language  newspapers  made  such  defense  and 
gave  such  advice  as  they  could.  Said  the  Cincinnati  Volksblatt, 
"The  only  way  to  conquer  England  is  by  a  submarine  war,  and 
this  war  being  hampered  by  restrictions  imposed  by  the  Presi- 
dent, Germany  has  concluded  to  throw  off  these  restrictions. 
Germany's  pledges  were  given  with  respect  to  merchant  ships. 
They  can,  therefore,  no  longer  apply,  as  the  Allies  have  con- 
verted their  merchant  ships  into  men-of-war  by  supplying  them 
with  heavy  guns  and  offering  rewards  to  captains  of  liners  for 
ramming  German  submarines.  The  proper  policy  of  the  Presi- 
dent is  to  warn  American  citizens  not  to  travel  on  ships  of  the 
Allies." 

"Germany,"  said  another,  "has  a  right  to  wage  an  unre- 
stricted undersea  warfare,  the  right  of  self-defense.  It  is  her 
duty  to  leave  no  means  untried  to  end  this  war,  and  the  sub- 


320     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

marines  are  the  weapons  for  this  purpose.  England  is  the  only 
obstacle  to  peace."  The  duty  Germany  owed  neutrals  "is  ful- 
filled by  warning  them  off  ships  of  belligerents,  and  her  duty 
to  the  United  States,  in  particular,  by  giving  directions  how 
American  passenger  ships  must  proceed  to  reach  their  destina- 
tion without  danger." 

When  the  note  was  made  public  stocks  fell,  the  rate  of 
marine  insurance  rose,  sailings  of  neutral  vessels  were  canceled 
or  suspended,  the  port  of  New  York  was  temporarily  closed;  a 
searching  examination  was  made  of  seventeen  German  vessels, 
which  had  been  lying  at  their  piers  in  New  York  and  Hoboken 
since  the  opening  of  the  war,  lest  they  should  attempt  to  make  a 
dash  to  sea,  or  block  a  channel ;  officers  and  men  on  the  two  Ger- 
man raiders  Prinze  Eitel  Friedrich  and  Kronprinz  Wilhelm, 
interned  at  the  navy  yard  at  League  Jsland,  Philadelphia, 
were  denied  shore  leave;  torpedo  boat  destroyers  at  the  New 
York  navy  yard  were  put  in  readiness  for  sea,  and  the  crew  of 
the  German  freighter  Liebenfels,  long  anchored  in  Charleston 
harbor,  opened  the  sea  cocks  and  sank  her  in  forty  feet  of  water. 

What  should  be  our  conduct  towards  Germany  caused  much 
diversity  of  opinion.  There  were  those  who  thought  that  dip- 
lomatic relations  should  not  be  severed  until  Germany  committed 
some  overt  act  or  sank  one  of  our  merchantmen,  and  that  the 
retention  of  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  in  Washington  would  do 
more  good  than  his  dismissal.  There  were  those  who  held  that 
the  German  note  was  no  more  than  a  fair  warning;  that  Ger- 
many had  been  forced  to  take  the  step;  that  it  was  inevitable 
after  France  and  Great  Britain  armed  their  merchantmen  to 
sink  submarines  that  Germany  should  retaliate  to  protect  her- 
self, and  that  this  retaliation  was  no  more  an  attack  on  our 
rights  than  the  blacklisting  of  our  merchants  by  Great  Britain 
or  the  stopping  of  our  vessels  on  their  way  to  neutral  ports. 
There  were  those  who  thought  the  issue  should  be  left  with  the 
President,  that  nothing  should  be  said  or  done  to  embarrass 
him ;  that  if  peace  could  be  maintained  he  would  find  a  way  to 
do  it,  and  that  he  should  be  assured  that,  come  what  might,  the 
nation  stood  loyally  behind  him ;  and  there  were  those  who  held 
that  war  was  inevitable.  We  have,  they  said,  submitted  to  out- 
rage long  enough.  Peace  will  be  purchased  at  too  high  a  price 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  321 

if  we  submit  to  the  insulting  instructions  of  the  Kaiser  as  to 
how  our  commercial  affairs  shall  be  conducted.  The  note  is  a 
shameful  insult  to  the  American  people.  No  American  in  his 
senses  would,  for  a  moment,  consider  acquiescence  in  Germany's 
orders.  They  amount  almost  to  a  declaration  of  war.  There 
must  be  no  more  killing  of  Americans  at  sea,  and  if  insistence 
on  this  means  a  break  with  the  Central  Powers  then  let  the 
break  come. 

At  a  peace  meeting  held  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  New 
York,  by  the  American  Neutral  Conference  Committee,  Mr. 
William  J.  Bryan  said  to  those  assembled : 

When  I  hear  people  say  that  there  is  danger,  that,  however  much 
we  desire  peace,  we  are  yet  likely  to  be  forced  into  war,  I  find  solace, 
comfort  and  assurance  in  his  message.  If  we  can  ask  people  to 
forget  the  hatreds  engendered  in  them  against  other  nations  who 
have  sought  to  do  them  harm;  if  we  can  ask  people  who  are  strug- 
gling for  their  existence  in  a  death  grapple  which  has  already  taken 
the  lives  of  6,000,000  of  them;  if  we  can  ask  them  to  stop  in  their 
extreme,  who  shall  say  that  this  nation  shall  rush  into  war? 

What  a  spectacle  we  should  present  to  the  world,  asking  them  to 
be  patient  and  forbearing,  while  the  heart's  blood  of  millions  is  being 
shed,  and  then  not  be  able  to  be  patient  and  forbearing  ourselves. 

It  would  be  bad  enough  for  us  to  go  to  war  with  a  nation  which 
wished  to  harm  us,  but  God  forbid  that  we  should  ever  compel  any 
nation  to  go  to  war  with  us  that  is  not  an  enemy  and  does  not  want 
war  with  -us. 

I  believe  that  it  would  be  a  crime  for  us  to  go  into  this  war,  would 
be  a  crime  against  this  nation  and  against  the  world.  I  have  faith 
not  only  in  the  President's  desire  to  keep  us  out  of  war,  but  in  his 
ability  to  do  so. 

The  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  American  Union  against 
Militarism  sent  a  message  to  the  President  urging  him  to  call 
on  the  belligerents  to  meet,  as  the  Central  Powers  had  offered  to 
do,  and  state  their  peace  terms  as  the  Allies  had  done;  and  to 
make  a  final  and  personal  offer  of  mediation  to  the  Sovereigns 
and  Executive  heads  of  the  Powers  at  War. 

In  Germany  the  reports  of  the  war  feeling  in  our  country, 
awakened  by  the  announcement  of  unrestricted  submarine  war- 
fare, served  but  to  harden  the  resolve  not  to  abandon  it.  "We 
know  that  America  will  not  remain  silent  under  our  submarine 
warfare,"  said  the  Bavarian  Premier,  "but  the  time  for  consid- 


322     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ering  the  opinions  of  other  people  has  gone.  It  is  the  only  way 
to  end  the  war.  Nothing  can  stop  us  whatever  the  consequences." 
"We  await  the  American  attitude  with  a  good  conscience/'  said 
the  Vorwarts.  "If  the  reply  is  different  from  what  we  expect, 
though  we  regret  it,  we  cannot  be  moved  by  it.  We  know  not 
how  neutrals,  especially  America,  may  take  it,  but  be  their  posi- 
tion what  it  may,  we  cannot  be  shaken  in  our  determination  aft- 
er to-day's  declaration  of  war  zone  and  the  note  to  America," 
said  Taegliche  Rundschau.  It  cannot  be  imagined,  the  Frank- 
furter Zeitung  said,  "that  there  can  be  any  new  yielding  to 
American  protests.  The  Jmperial  authorities  are  firmly  con- 
vinced that  Germany  will  hold  her  own  against  an  onset  by  the 
whole  world.  Whatever  America  may  do  the  German  people 
face  the  future  without  fear." 

The  decision  was  quickly  made  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Feb- 
ruary third,  the  President  announced  to  Congress  that  diplo- 
matic relations  with  Germany  were  severed. 

The  scene  was  impressive.  Two  o'clock  was  the  hour  fixed 
for  the  arrival  of  the  President.  As  it  drew  near  the  members 
of  the  House  after  a  half  hour's  recess  were  again  in  their  seats, 
some  with  their  little  sons  on  their  knees;  the  diplomatic  gal- 
lery was  filled  and  the  members'  and  the  public  galleries  were 
crowded  to  the  doors.  A  few  minutes  before  two  o'clock  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  accompanied  by  all  the 
Associate  Justices,  entered  and  took  seats  on  the  left  of  the 
Speaker.  The  Cabinet  and  officers  of  the  Department  of  State 
followed  almost  immediately,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  seated 
behind  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Senators,  two 
by  two,  filed  down  the  center  aisle  to  the  benches  reserved  for 
them.  A  committee  from  the  Senate  was  then  appointed  to 
escort  the  President,  who,  welcomed  by  hearty  applause,  entered 
the  Chamber  just  on  the  hour,  and  shook  hands  with  the  Speaker 
and  the  Vice-President.  "Gentlemen  of  the  Sixty-fourth  Con- 
gress," said  the  Speaker,  "J  present  the  President  of  the  United 
States" ;  whereupon  Mr.  Wilson  stepped  to  the  desk  in  front  of 
the  Speaker,  and  said : 

The  Imperial  German  Government,  on  the  thirty-first  day  of 
January,  announced  to  this  Government  and  to  the  Governments  of 
jthe  other  neutral  nations  that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  February, 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  323 

the  present  month,  it  would  adopt  a  policy  with  regard  to  the  use 
of  submarines  against  all  shipping  seeking  to  pass  through  certain 
designated  areas  of  the  high  seas,  to  which  it  is  clearly  my  duty  to 
call  your  attention. 

Let  me  remind  the  Congress  that  on  the  18th  of  April  last,  in  view 
of  the  sinking  on  the  24th  of  March  of  the  cross-channel  passenger 
steamer  Sussex  by  a  German  submarine,  without  summons  or  warn- 
ing, and  the  consequent  loss  of  the  lives  of  several  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  were  passengers  aboard  her,  this  Government 
addressed  a  note  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  in  which  it 
made  the  following  declaration: 

After  quoting  the  paragraph  in  the  note  of  April  18,  1916, 
in  which  Germany  was  warned  that  unless  she  immediately 
abandoned  her  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger 
and  freight-carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  no  choice  but  the  severance  of  diplomatic  relations 
altogether;  after  citing  the  pledge  of  the  German  Government 
embodied  in  its  answer  of  May  that  merchant  vessels  "shall  not 
be  sunk  without  warning  and  without  saving  human  lives,  un- 
less these  ships  attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance,"  and  aft- 
er quoting  from  his  reply  to  this  in  the  note  of  May  8,  the 
President  continued : 

I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that,  in  view  of  this  declaration, 
which  suddenly  and  without  prior  intimation  of  any  kind,  deliberately 
withdraws  the  solemn  assurance  given  in  the  Imperial  Government's 
note  of  the  4th  of  May,  1916,  this  Government  has  no  alternative  con- 
sistent with  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  United  States  but  to  take 
the  course  which,  in  its  note  of  the  18th  of  April,  1916,  it  announced 
that  it  would  take  in  the  event  that  the  German  Government  did  not 
declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  the  methods  of  submarine  war- 
fare which  it  was  then  employing  and  to  which  it  now  purposes  to 
again  resort. 

I  have,  therefore,  directed  the  Secretary  of  State  to  announce 
to  his  Excellency  the  German  Ambassador  that  all  diplomatic  rela- 
tions between  the  United  States  and  the  German  Empire  are  severed, 
and  that  the  American  Ambassador  at  Berlin  will  immediately  be 
withdrawn ;  and,  in  accordance  with  this  decision,  to  hand  to  his 
Excellency  his  passports. 

The  President  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  that  the 
German  authorities  would  "pay  no  regard  to  the  ancient  friend- 
ship between  their  people  and  our  own  or  to  the  solemn  obli- 
gations which  bave  been  exchanged  between  them  and  destroy 


American  ships  and  take  the  lives  of  American  citizens  in  the 
willful  prosecution  of  the  ruthless  naval  program  they  have  an- 
nounced their  intention  to  adopt." 

Only  actual  overt  acts  on  their  part  can  make  me  believe  it  even 
now. 

If  this  inveterate  confidence  on  my  part  in  the  sobriety  and  pru- 
dent foresight  of  their  purpose  should  unhappily  prove  unfounded, 
if  American  ships  and  American  lives  should,  in  fact,  be  sacrificed 
by  their  naval  commanders  in  heedless  contravention  of  the  just  and 
reasonable  understandings  of  international  law  and  the  obvious  dic- 
tates of  humanity,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  coming  again  before 
the  Congress  to  ask  that  authority  be  given  me  to  use  any  means 
that  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection  of  our  seamen  and  our  peo- 
ple in  the  prosecution  of  their  peaceful  and  legitimate  errands  on 
the  high  seas. 

At  two  o'clock  on  February  3,  just  as  the  President  be- 
gan his  address,  the  German  Ambassador  received  from  the 
Secretary  of  State  a  note  of  dismissal  and  his  passports.  The 
affairs  of  the  German  Embassy  were  then  taken  over  by  the 
Swiss  Minister  and  preparations  were  made  for  the  departure 
of  Count  von  Bernstorff.  France  and  Great  Britain  each  gave 
a  safe  conduct;  passage  was  secured,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Danish  Government,  on  the  Frederick  VIII.;  the  German  con- 
suls scattered  over  the  United  States,  and  their  families,  were 
summoned  to  Washington;  and  on  February  14  the  Ambassa- 
dor and  his  party,  one  hundred  and  forty  nine  persons  in  all, 
sailed  from  the  port  of  New  York.  Our  diplomatic  relations 
with  Germany  were  taken  in  charge  by  Spain. 

As  soon  as  the  break  occurred  neutral  Governments  were 
officially  notified  and  our  representatives  instructed  to  say  that 
because  of  the  announced  intention  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment to  renew  unrestricted  submarine  warfare  the  United 
States  had  no  choice  but  to  follow  the  course  laid  down  in  the 
Sussex  note  of  April  18,  1916;  that  the  American  Ambassador 
had  been  recalled  from  Berlin  and  passports  delivered  to  the 
German  Ambassador  at  Washington,  and  that  the  President  be- 
lieved it  would  make  for  the  peace  of  the  world  if  other  neu- 
tral Powers  would  take  like  action.  Not  one  did ;  but  Switzer- 
land, Holland  and  Spain,  Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark, 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  325 

Brazil,  Chili,  Peru,  all  the  South  American  Kepublics,  Cuba 
and  China  protested  against  the  ruthless  submarine  warfare 
and  the  barred  zone. 

From  Mr.  Bryan  came  an  appeal  to  the  people  not  to  enter 
the  war.  The  President,  Mr.  Bryan  said,  had  asked  the  bellig- 
erents to  forget  the  bitterness  caused  "by  the  killing  of  more 
than  6,000,000  human  beings  and  the  expenditure  of  more  than 
$50,000,000,000  in  money  and  come  together  in  honorable 
peace.  If  we  can  expect  such  an  exhibition  of  virtue  by  them 
are  we  not  in  duty  bound  to  measure  up  to  the  standard  which 
we  have  set  for  them?"  There  were  several  ways  out  of  our 
difficulties.  We  might  put  off,  until  after  the  war,  the  settle- 
ment of  such  disputes  as  could  not  now  be  amicably  arranged. 
We  might  keep  American  citizens  off  the  ships  of  belligerents. 
We  might  refuse  clearances  to  any  vessel  which  carried  passen- 
gers and  articles  contraband  of  war,  whether  it  sailed  under  the 
flag  of  the  United  States  or  that  of  a  neutral  Power.  We  might 
withdraw  protection  from  American  citizens  who  were  willing  to 
risk  the  peace  of  the  country  by  traveling  as  seamen  on  neutral 
or  American  ships  carrying  contraband.  We  might  keep  all 
American  ships  out  of  the  danger  zone,  just  as  the  Mayor  of  a 
city  keeps  citizens  at  home  when  a  mob  is  in  possession  of  the 
streets.  Congress  could  submit  the  question  of  war  to  popular 
vote.  It  was  most  important  that  the  officials  at  Washington 
should  know  "that  the  people  at  home  protest  against  entering 
this  war  on  either  side,  with  its  frightful  expenditure  of  blood 
and  treasure;  that  they  are  not  willing  to  send  American 
soldiers  across  the  Atlantic  to  march  under  the  banners  of  any 
European  monarch,  or  to  die  on  European  soil  in  settlement  of 
European  quarrels." 

The  people  therefore  were  urged  to  "Wire  immediately  to 
the  President,  your  Senators,  your  Congressmen.  A  few  cents 
now  may  save  many  dollars  in  taxation  and  possibly  a  son." 

The  German  language  press  was  luke-warm.  The  New 
York  Staats-Z eitung  could  not  believe  "that  commanders  of 
German  boats  could  willingly  sink  American  ships;  but  in  a 
warfare,  such  as  from  now  on  will  be  waged  in  European  waters, 
such  incidents  may  occur.  Mistakes  may  be  made  or  intrigues 
carried  out  by  Germany's  enemies,  which  after  the  breaking  of 


diplomatic  relations  cannot  be  discussed  or  cleared  up  any  more. 
Therefore  war  may  very  suddenly  engulf  our  country.  It  is 
almost  needless  to  mention  what  great  anxiety  is  filling  the 
hearts  of  those  who,  being  subjects  of  Germany,  are  forced  by 
circumstances  to  be  in  our  midst,  and  the  American  citizens  of 
German  descent  who  have  endeavored  to  foster  the  very  best 
of  relations  between  the  country  of  their  birth  and  their  new 
Fatherland." 

The  Chicago  Staats-Zeitung  believed  that  an  "overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  our  people  stand  behind  the  President  in  his 
efforts  to  keep  this  country  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  But  it 
is  doubtful  that  a  majority  will  endorse  giving  the  German 
Ambassador  his  passports  at  the  present  time."  Were  Ameri- 
cans to  enter  the  war,  "the  hearts  of  millions  would  be  saddened 
by  the  knowledge  that  they  must  wage  war  against  their  kin. 
The  war  of  races  would  break  out  in  the  midst  of  us,  passion 
would  be  aroused,  hatred  engendered,  and  internecine  warfare 
result  unless  the  causes  that  led  to  our  entering  the  European 
war  were  shocking  and  all  peaceful  procedure  futile." 

The  Philadelphia  Morning  Gazette  declared  "Our  duty  as 
American  citizens  makes  it  absolutely  necessary  for  us  to  be 
loyal  to  the  country  that  we  swore  allegiance  to — the  United 
States  of  America." 

Said  the  Louisville  Anzeiger,  "Every  German-American  who 
has  become  a  citizen  of  this  country  knows  which  flag  he  must 
follow  in  this  hour.  The  loyalty  of  German-Americans  to- 
wards the  country  of  their  adoption  has  been  proved  often 
enough." 

The  editors  of  nearly  every  foreign  language  newspaper  in 
Philadelphia  met,  adopted  resolutions  and  sent  them  to  the 
President.  They  approved  his  stand,  pledged  their  devotion  to 
country  and  flag.  Five  hundred  representatives  of  German, 
Austrian,  and  Hungarian  societies  in  New  York  met  and 
pledged  unqualified  loyalty  to  the  United  States  even  in  the 
event  of  war,  but  begged  the  President  "to  make  every  effort  to 
preserve  peace." 

Severance  of  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany  had  no  ef- 
fect on  her  avowed  policy  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare,  nor 
did  any  reasonable  person  suppose  it  would.  Sure  that  war 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  327 

would  come,  our  countrymen  awaited  the  perpetration  of  the 
overt  act  which  would  bring  the  President  before  Congress  with 
a  request  for  a  declaration  of  war.  For  a  moment  it  seemed 
that  the  overt  act  had  been  committed  for  on  February  third, 
the  American  ship  Ilousatonic  was  sunk  off  the  Scilly  Islands  by 
a  German  submarine.  When,  however,  the  facts  were  known  it 
appeared  that  the  ship  was  stopped  and  searched,  the  crew  given 
plenty  of  time  to  take  to  the  boats  which  the  submarine  towed  to 
a  point  off  the  coast  of  England,  and  that  she  fired  a  gun  to 
notify  a  British  patrol  boat  which  landed  all  hands  at  Pen- 
zance. 

What  might  be  the  action  of  Germans  living  in  our  country, 
of  German-Americans  and  German  sympathizers  was  a  matter 
of  no  little  concern  and  preparations  were  promptly  made  for 
home  defense.  The  National  Militia  was  prepared  for  mobi- 
lization at  a  moment's  notice,  marines  were  sent  to  guard  im- 
portant bridges,  reservoirs,  water  works;  civilian  guards  were 
placed  on  railroad  bridges  and  at  ship  yards,  and  those  at  steel 
plants  and  munition  plants  were  greatly  strengthened ;  police 
protection  was  given  to  the  Mint  at  Philadelphia,  the  Custom 
Houses  and  Federal  buildings,  arsenals,  armories,  navy  yards; 
the  White  House,  the  State,  War,  Navy  and  Treasury  Build- 
ings were  closed  to  the  public  and  the  Kronprinzessin  Cecilie, 
at  Boston,  was  taken  possession  of,  in  civil  proceedings,  by  the 
United  States  Marshal.  He  reported  that  within  three  days 
the  machinery  had  been  tampered  with.  Under  orders  from 
Washington  the  crew  were  held  at  the  immigration  station  as 
aliens,  to  await  the  decision  of  the  Department  of  Labor  as  to 
their  status.  Officers  and  crews  of  some  twenty-five  German 
steamships  at  New  York  were  ordered  to  remain  on  board  their 
ships.  From  Manila  came  the  report  that  the  machinery  of 
twenty-three  German  ships  in  Philippine  ports  had  been  dam- 
aged. The  crew  of  an  interned  German  gun  boat  at  Honolulu, 
it  was  reported,  had  set  fire  to  the  vessel. 

Orders  went  out  from  the  American  Red  Cross  headquarters 
at  Washington  to  all  its  Chapters  the  country  over,  to  make  ready 
for  emergencies.  From  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  the  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Company,  the  Remington  Arms  Company,  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  came  assurances  that  these  great  plants 


328     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

were  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  suspend  work  and  place  their 
equipment  at  the  service  of  the  Government.  Private  yacht 
owners  made  tenders  of  their  craft,  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  agreed  to  a  suspension  of  the  law  restricting  the  hours 
of  labor  on  Government  work,  and  the  President  by  proclama- 
tion forbade  the  sale,  lease  or  charter,  to  any  person  not  a  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States,  or  transfer  to  a  foreign  flag,  of  any 
vessel  registered  or  enrolled  and  licensed  under  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  as  he  was  empowered  to  do  by  the  Act  approved 
September  7,  1916.  The  Executive  Council  of  the  National 
Suffrage  League  was  called  to  consider  how  women  could  help 
in  case  of  war,  and  to  make  a  definite  proposal  to  the  Govern- 
ment. 

Aroused  by  these  warlike  preparations  Pacifists,  Socialists, 
Anti-War  Leaguers,  persons  for  any  reason  opposed  to  the  en- 
trance of  our  country  into  the  war  made  haste  to  protest.  Dr. 
C.  J.  Hexamer,  President  of  the  German-American  Alliance, 
sent  messages  to  friends  throughout  the  country  urging  them 
to  arrange  peace  meetings  and  send  to  Congress  resolutions 
praying  that  it  submit  the  question  of  war  to  popular  vote.  In 
case  of  sudden  attack  by  another  country,  calling  for  instant 
action,  a  referendum  was,  of  course,  he  said,  impossible.  But 
for  a  country  deliberately  to  go  to  war  without  allowing  the  peo- 
ple to  express  their  approval  was  wrong,  utterly  wrong. 

Telegrams  by  the  hundred,  indorsing  or  condemning  the 
break  with  Germany,  meantime  came  to  the  Senators.  One 
from  the  Detroit  Socialists  protested  against  war.  Labor  and 
peace  organizations  in  Wisconsin  sent  appeals  urging  peace. 
The  Legislature-  of  Nevada  indorsed  the  course  taken  by  the 
President.  So  did  the  United  States  Senate  by  adopting  a  reso- 
lution introduced  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations,  setting  forth  that,  whereas,  the  President,  for  the 
reasons  given  in  his  address  to  the  Congress  in  joint  session, 
had  severed  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany,  had  recalled 
the  American  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  sent  passports  to  the  Ger- 
man Ambassador  at  Washington,  expressed  his  desire  to  avoid 
a  conflict  with  Germany,  and  declared  that  should  occasion 
arise  for  further  action  he  would  submit  the  matter  to  Con- 
gress and  ask  authority  to  use  such  measures  as  might  be  nee- 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  329 

essary  for  the  protection  of  American  seamen  and  people  pur- 
suing their  peaceful  and  lawful  business  on  the  high  seas,  there- 
fore, the  Senate  approved  the  action  taken  by  the  President  as 
set  forth  in  his  address. 

To  quiet  the  anxiety  felt  by  German  subjects  residing  in 
our  country  lest  their  bank  deposits  and  other  property  should 
be  seized  by  the  Government  in  the  event  of  war,  the  President 
instructed  the  Secretary  of  State  to  say  that  such  fears  were  un- 
founded. Under  no  circumstances  would  the  Government  take 
advantage  of  a  state  of  war  to  seize  property  to  which  inter- 
national law  and  the  law  of  the  land  gave  it  no  just  claim  or 
title.  All  rights  of  property  both  of  American  citizens  and  of 
subjects  of  foreign  states  would  be  respected. 

Germany  meantime,  true  to  her  policy  as  announced,  had 
begun  her  ruthless  submarine  warfare  and  day  after  day  the 
list  of  vessels  sunk  grew  longer  and  longer  until,  on  February 
7,  twenty-two  had  been  torpedoed  without  warning.  Among 
those  destroyed  were  two  which  caused  some  excitement  in  our 
country  for  it  seemed  quite  likely  their  sinking  might  be  the 
overt  act  that  would  bring  on  war. 

February  fifth  the  British  steamship  Eavestone  was  sunk  by 
gun  fire  from  a  German  submarine,  and  the  crew  while  in  life 
boats  was  fired  on  and  the  Captain  and  three  seamen  killed. 
One  of  the  seamen,  Richard  Wallace,  was  a  negro  from  Balti- 
more. This,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  not 
an  overt  act.  The  Eavestone  was  a  collier,  an  auxiliary  to  the 
British  fleet ;  the  presence  of  Wallace  aboard  made  him  a  mem- 
ber of  the  armed  forces  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  ship,  being  a 
provisional  collier,  had  the  status  of  a  warship  subject  to  attack 
without  warning.  Nothing  in  international  law,  however,  justi- 
fied firing  on  a  lifeboat ;  nevertheless,  there  was  no  occasion  for 
anything  more  at  present  than  a  protest  and  settlement  later. 

The  second  case  was  that  of  the  Anchor  liner  California, 
torpedoed  without  warning  off  the  coast  of  jlreland.  On  board 
were  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  passengers.  One  Ameri- 
can, a  member  of  the  crew,  was  reported  saved.  Whether  saved 
or  lost  the  gravity  of  the  act  was  not  altered,  for  the  President 
for  two  years  past  in  his  notes  to  Germany  had  insisted  that  the 
lives  of  Americans  on  any  peaceful  merchant  ship  should  not  be 


330     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

put  in  jeopardy  by  attacks  without  warning.  When  the  first 
week  of  submarine  frightful  ness  closed  sixty-nine  ships  had 
been  sunk. 

In  Great  Britain  our  break  with  Germany  gave  intense  sat- 
isfaction not  merely  because  it  seemed  certain  that  the  United 
States  would  soon  be  in  the  war,  but  because  after  enduring  all 
things  with  amazing  patience,  after  seeking  by  every  honorable 
means  to  avoid  entrance  into  the  conflict,  the  great  Republic 
of  the  West  had  been  forced  to  recognize  the  justice  of  the 
cause  of  the  Allies  in  their  struggle  with  the  enemy  of  the 
human  race.  A  moral  victory  had  been  won  and  was  duly  noted 
when  Parliament  reconvened  on  February  seventh. 

Speaking  in  the  Commons,  Mr.  Asquith  said,  "It  is  not  for 
us  to  forecast  the  bearing  of  this  memorable  event  on  the  future 
of  the  war.  Still  less  is  it  fitting  for  us  to  tender  advice  or  sug- 
gestion to  a  Government  which  is  well  able  to  take  care  of  itself. 
We  shall  hail  with  acclamation,  with  a  strain  of  family  pride, 
the  stern  and  resolute  determination  of  the  other  great  English- 
speaking  Power  to  frustrate  the  enormity  of  those  who  have 
abundantly  earned  for  themselves  the  title  of  enemies  of  the  hu- 
man race." 

"The  fact  that  the  United  States  Government  has  broken 
with  Germany"  said  Mr.  Andrew  Bonar  Law,  "is,  in  itself,  the 
best  testimony  of  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the  illegality  of 
the  methods  whereby  our  enemies  are  trying  to  obtain  victory." 

To  the  request  of  the  President  that  neutral  Powers  follow 
the  example  of  the  United  States  and  sever  diplomatic  relations 
with  Germany,  Holland  declined.  The  presence  of  a  German 
army  on  her  frontier  made  it  impossible.  Sweden  replied  that 
her  policy  during  the  war  had  been  one  of  strict  neutrality ;  that 
she  had  done  everything  in  her  power  faithfully  to  perform  the 
duties  imposed  by  such  policy ;  but  the  methods  adopted  by  the 
United  States  for  the  realization  of  peace  were  contrary  to  the 
principles  which,  up  to  the  present  time,  had  guided  her. 

Germany,  though  fully  determined  not  to  depart  from  her 
policy  of  destroying  neutral  ships  found  within  the  danger  zones, 
now  suggested  that  the  United  States  discuss  the  situation  with 
her.  The  Swiss  Government  was  requested  to  instruct  her  Min- 
ister at  Washington  accordingly  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Satur- 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  331 

lay,  February  10,  he  called  at  the  Department  of  State  and  made 
a  verbal  proposition.  No  reply  on  behalf  of  the  United  States 
was  made  at  that  time,  but  the  Minister  was  soon  informed  that 
the  President  would  prefer  to  have  the  suggestion  put  in  writ- 
ing. On  Sunday  night  accordingly  a  memorandum  was  de- 
livered to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

"The  Swiss  Government,"  it  read,  "has  been  requested  by 
the  German  Government  to  say  that  the  latter  is  now,  as  before, 
willing  to  negotiate  formally  or  informally  with  the  United 
States,  provided  that  the  commercial  blockade  against  England 
will  not  be  broken  thereby." 

As  quickly  as  possible  the  Secretary  replied  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  "would  gladly  discuss  with 
the  German  Government  any  question  it  might  propose  for  dis- 
cussion were  it  to  withdraw  its  proclamation  of  the  thirty-first 
of  January,  in  which,  suddenly  and  without  previous  intima- 
tion of  any  kind,  it  canceled  the  assurances  which  it  had  given 
this  Government  on  the  fourth  of  May,  last,"  but  would  not  dis- 
cuss the  policy  of  submarine  warfare  then  waging  against  neu- 
trals, "unless  and  until  the  German  Government  renews  its  as- 
surances of  the  fourth  of  May  and  acts  upon  the  assurance." 

The  cause  of  this  action  by  Germany,  it  was  said,  was  a  mes- 
sage, sent  to  the  Cologne  Gazette  by  Mr.  George  Barthelme,  the 
American  correspondent  for  that  journal. 

Mr.  George  W.  Kirchwey,  President  of  the  American  Peace 
Society,  obtained  permission  from  Secretary  Daniels  to  send 
the  dispatch  of  Mr.  Barthelme  over  the  wireless  controlled  by 
the  Navy  Department.  The  message  as  given  by  the  newspa- 
pers was  this : 

From  high  sources  whose  identity  cannot  be  disclosed  I  am  urged, 
almost  implored,  to  convey  to  the  German  people,  and  if  possible  to 
Government,  the  idea  that  message  (the  President's)  should  not  be 
construed  as  indicating  any  desire  on  the  part  of  Government  or  the 
people  for  war  with  Germany. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  following  passage:  "I  refuse  to  believe 
it  the  intention  of  German  authorities  to  do  in  fact  what  they  warned 
us  they  will  feel  at  liberty  to  do,"  and  so  forth:  "only  actual  overt 
acts  can  make  me  believe  it  even  now." 

Further  attention  is  called  to  the  following  sentence:  "If  this 
inveterate  confidence  should  unhappily  prove  unfounded  I  shall  take 


332     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  liberty  of  coming  again  before  Congress  to  ask  authority  to  use 
any  means  necessary  for  the  protection  of  otir  seamen  and  people." 

These  passages  widely  construed:  First,  as  expressive  of  confi- 
dence some  way  out  might  be  found.  Second,  not  containing  any 
threat  of  war.  Widely  shared  opinion  is  President  could  do  nothing 
else  but  sever  relations  to  make  good  former  note.  Now  up  to  Ger- 
many to  provide  an  opening.  First  thing  necessary  avoid  everything 
which  makes  maintenance  of  friendly  relations  impossible. 

Particularly  refrain  from  destruction  of  American  ships  not 
carrying  contraband,  thus  inducing  a  delay  of  perhaps  one  month 
to  make  possible  limit  of  submarine  activities  object  of  negotiation. 
Such  delay  offered  as  token  of  ancient  friendship  of  two  countries. 
Then  consider  the  possibilities  provided  in  the  resolution  for  calling 
conference  of  Powers.  These  possibilities  closed  by  hasty  action. 

Some  explanation  about  sailing  of  only  four  especially  marked 
American  ships  would  remove  very  bitter  impression  created  by  this 
wholly  incomprehensible  proviso,  hurting  the  national  pride  as  noth- 
ing else.  My  informants  assure  in  most  emphatic  manner  country  is 
not  for  war,  and  will  be  for  war  only  when  forced  into  it.  Only  small 
circles  clamoring  for  hostilities,  but  huge  majority  praying  for  peace 
with  honor. 

I  feel  it  my  solemn  duty  to  inform  you  about  these  sentiments 
and  opinions  entertained  by  men  of  highest  standing,  noblest  char- 
acter, responsible  position,  and  loftiest  ideals  and  thoroughly  good 
will.  Should  you  deem  advisable  to  exert  influence  of  our  great 
paper,  do  so  to  find  way  out  of  situation  not  yet  unavoidable,  preg- 
nant with  gravest  possibilities.  I  honestly  believe  country  just 
anxiously  waiting  for  one  more  good  word. 

This  good  word  the  Pacifists  believed  was  the  offer  of  Ger- 
many to  negotiate;  but  Mr.  Barthelme  was  forced  by  the 
Government  to  leave  the  country  and,  provided  with  a  safe 
passage,  sailed  with  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  and  his  party. 

The  German  explanation  of  the  proposed  parley  set  forth 
that  the  Swiss  Minister  in  a  dispatch  from  Washington  had  of- 
fered to  mediate  with  the  American  Government  concerning  the 
declaration  of  prohibited  areas  because  he  believed  the  danger 
of  war  between  Germany  and  the  United  States  might  thereby 
be  lessened;  that  the  Imperial  Government  replied  that  it  was 
ready,  as  before,  to  negotiate  with  America  provided  the  com- 
merce barrier  against  the  Allies  was  left  untouched ;  that  Ger- 
many, of  course,  could  not  have  entered  into  such  negotiations 
unless  diplomatic  relations  were  restored,  and  that  the  only  ob- 
jects of  negotiation  were  certain  concessions  regarding  Ameri- 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEH  333 

1 

can  ships  carrying  passengers.  Under  no  circumstances  could 
the  restriction  on  overseas  imports  by  the  Allies  be  relaxed; 
from  the  resolute  carrying  out  of  the  U-boat  war  there  was 
no  turning  back. 

Germany  now  added  to  her  long  list  of  offensive  acts  by 
holding  the  Yarrowdale  prisoners. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  January  Ambassador  Gerard  reported 
that  the  evening  newspapers  in  Berlin  announced  that  the  Brit- 
ish steamship  Yarrowdale  had  reached  Schwinemiinde ;  that  she 
was  a  prize ;  that  aboard  her  were  469  prisoners ;  that  103  were 
neutrals,  and  that  such  of  them  as  had  served  on  enemy  ships 
for  pay  would  be  held  prisoners  of  war. 

Late  in  November  the  German  cruiser  Mowe,  or  Seagull, 
stole  out  of  the  Kiel  Canal  and  the  North  Sea  and  began  depre- 
dations in  the  Atlantic.  The  British  Admiralty  first  heard  of 
them  on  December  second  and  on  the  eighth  sent  out  a  general 
warning;  but  the  extent  of  her  work  was  not  known  till  Jan- 
uary 16,  1917,  when  tEe  Japanese  steamer  Hudson  Maru 
reached  Pernambuco,  Brazil,  with  287  men  taken  from  six  ves- 
sels sunk  between  the  Azores  and  Brazil.  One  of  these,  the 
Yarrowdale,  was  not  destroyed,  but  taken  to  a  German  port 
with  469  prisoners  from  one  Norwegian  and  seven  British  ships, 
and  with  a  valuable  cargo  of  rifle  cartridges,  motor  lorries, 
barbed  wire,  steel,  meat,  bacon  and  sausages.  December  31, 
she  reached  Schwinemiinde ;  but  her  arrival  was  not  announced 
till  January  19,  1917.  The  Mowe  likewise  reached  a  German 
port  bringing  573  prisoners.  She  had  captured  or  destroyed  at 
least  twenty-six  ships.  Her  prisoners  landed  in  Germany  and 
Brazil  numbered  1389.  Fifty-nine  of  those  on  the  Yarrowdale 
were  Americans  taken  from  an  armed  British  merchantman. 
These  and  other  "subjects  of  neutral  Powers,"  the  official  state- 
ment of  the  return  of  the  Mowe,  issued  at  Berlin,  announced, 
"have  been  removed  as  prisoners  of  war  in  so  far  as  they  had 
taken  pay  on  armed  vessels." 

To  the  demand  for  the  release  of  the  Americans,  on  the 
ground  that  when  they  shipped  on  board  the  British  merchant- 
men they  did  not  know  that  Germany  would  treat  armed  mer- 
chantmen as  ships  of  war,  the  German  Foreign  office  replied, 
February  4,  that  they  woud  be  released  at  once.  But  just  at 


334     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

that  time  diplomatic  relations  were  severed,  the  men  were  not 
set  free  and  on  the  seventeenth  the  Swiss  Minister  notified  the 
Department  of  State  that  the  men  would  be  detained  until  the 
Imperial  Government  was  informed  concerning  the  treatment 
of  the  crews  of  German  warships  interned  in  American  har- 
bors, and  until  she  had  definite  assurances  that  the  crews  of 
German  merchantmen  would  not  be  held  or  imprisoned.  Wash- 
ington was  amazed.  The  crews  of  the  raiders  Prinz  Eitel 
Friedrich  and  Kronprinz  Willielm,  and  of  such  gunboats  as  were 
interned  at  Guam  and  Honolulu  were,  under  international  law, 
held  as  prisoners  during  the  war.  German  merchantmen  were 
not  interned,  remained  in  our  harbors  as  ports  of  refuge,  were 
at  liberty  to  put  to  sea  at  any  time,  and  the  members  of  their 
crews  were  as  free  as  any  aliens  to  enter  our  country  on  comply- 
ing with  the  requirements  of  the  immigration  laws.  Until  then 
they  were  held  aboard  their  ships  by  the  immigration  authori- 
ties. The  United  States  had  seized  no  German  ships.  A 
formal  demand  was  then  made  through  the  Spanish  Ambassa- 
dor, for  their  immediate  release.  He  was  asked  to  say  that  if 
not  liberated  at  once,  "and  allowed  to  cross  the  frontier  without 
further  delay,"  the  United  States  would  be  forced  "to  consider 
what  measures  it  may  be  necessary  to  take  in  order  to  obtain 
satisfaction  for  the  continued  detention  of  these  innocent  Ameri-i 
can  citizens."  March  11  they  finally  reached  Zurich. 

From  the  day  of  their  arrival,  January  3,  to  the  hour  of 
their  release  they  had  been  subjected  to  cruel  and  brutal  treat- 
ment, though  during  all  this  time  Germany  was  professing  sin- 
cere friendship  for  the  United  States.  The  ofiicial  report  sets 
forth  that  they  were  given  no  clothes  suitable  to  the  weather; 
that  some  were  made  to  stand  for  hours  barefoot  in  the  snow ; 
that  food  was  poor  and  insufficient.  One,  after  the  sinking  of 
the  Georgia,  was  wounded  by  shrapnel  fired  by  the  Germans  at 
an  open  boat  in  which  he  and  others  of  the  crew  had  taken 
refuge.  Another  was  kicked  in  the  abdomen  by  a  German  of- 
ficer. 

At  Berlin  the  break  in  diplomatic  relations  and  the  recall  of 
Ambassador  Gerard  was  followed  by  the  placing  of  a  police 
guard  before  the  Embassy;  but  it  was  not  needed  as  no  un- 
friendly demonstration  of  any  kind  was  made.  The  Ambassa- 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  335 

dor,  however,  was  treated  much  like  a  prisoner.  His  telephone 
was  cut,  his  mail  was  stopped,  he  could  not  communicate  with 
American  consuls,  and  he  was  denied  permission  to  cable  Wash- 
ington in  cipher.  No  passports  were  furnished  Americans  de- 
sirous of  leaving  Berlin,  nor  would  the  police  allow  them  to  set 
out  for  Denmark,  Holland  or  Switzerland.  Mr.  Gerard,  it  was 
suggested,  should  use  his  good  offices  with  Washington  to  induce 
the  Government  to  endeavor  to  obtain  from  France  and  Great 
Britain  safe  conducts  for  the  return  of  German  merchantmen 
from  America  to  German  ports.  When  he  refused  it  was  inti- 
mated that  his  help  might  hasten  the  departure  of  Americans,  to 
which  he  answered,  it  was  reported,  that  he  would  sit  where  he 
was  till  Kingdom  come  before  he  would  go  without  them. 

The  restraint  imposed  on  Ambassador  Gerard  was  explained 
by  Dr.  von  Stumm,  Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs.  We 
had,  he  said,  no  reports  from  the  United  States.  We  knew  not 
how  our  Ambassador,  consuls  and  subjects  were  faring.  Ap- 
parently the  United  States  had  stopped  telegraphic  communica- 
tion with  our  Ambassador  as  soon  as  the  rupture  occurred. 
Such  treatment  forced  us  to  adopt  the  same  measures  towards 
the  American  Ambassador.  From  Renter  dispatches  we  learn 
that  German  ships  are  confiscated  and  the  crews  hampered  in 
their  movements.  We  know  not  if  these  reports  are  true.  We 
hope  they  are  not,  for  such  action  would  be  contrary  to  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  our  treaties  with  the  United  States,  giving 
the  subjects  of  both  States  nine  months'  immunity  in  event  of 
war.  Xot  until  the  good  treatment  given  to  Germans  in  this 
country  was  known  in  Berlin  was  it  arranged  that  the  Ambassa- 
dor, the  Secretaries,  attaches,  members  of  the  consular  service, 
and  American  newspaper  men  should  go  to  Switzerland  by  way 
of  Berne.  Thence  Mr.  Gerard  traveled  to  Paris,  Madrid  and 
Barcelona,  whence  he  sailed  for  Havana  and  home. 

The  effort  to  persuade  Ambassador  Gerard  to  sign  a  protocol 
confirming  and  enlarging  the  privileges  of  German  subjects  in 
ou r  country  in  case  of  war  having  failed,  the  document  was  sent 
to  Washington  and  delivered  to  the  Secretary  of  State  by  the 
Swiss  Minister  on  February  10,  1917. 

On  the  eleventh  of  July,  1799,  a  treaty  of  amity  and  com- 
merce was  made  with  Prussia.  The  German  Empire,  as  we 


336     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

know  it,  did  not  then  exist.  The  twenty-third  article  of  this 
treaty  provided  for  the  treatment  of  the  subjects  and  citizens 
of  the  States  in  case  of  war  between  Prussia  and  the  United 
States,  and  it  was  to  this  article  that  Germany  now  proposed 
to  add  nine  "explanatory  and  supplementary  clauses." 

Merchants  of  each  country  living  in  the  other  should  be  free 
to  remain  and  carry  on  their  business  even  after  the  time,  nine 
months,  specified  in  Article  23 ;  Germans  in  the  United  States 
and  Americans  in  Germany  should  be  free  to  leave  with  their 
personal  property,  money,  valuables  and  bank  accounts;  they 
must  not  be  sent  to  concentration  camps,  nor  their  property  be 
subject  to  confiscation  or  liquidation  under  any  conditions  other 
than  such  as  applied  to  neutral  property.  Patent  rights  held 
by  Germans  in  America  or  Americans  in  Germany  must  not  be 
declared  void,  contracts  between  Germans  and  Americans  made 
before  or  after  the  severance  of  diplomatic  relations  must  not  be 
canceled  or  made  void,  save  under  provisions  applicable  to  neu- 
trals. 

The  proposition  was  promptly  rejected,  because  of  the  "re- 
peated violations  by  Germany  of  the  Treaty  of  1828,  and  the 
articles  of  the  Treaties  of  1785  and  1799,  revised  by  the  Treaty 
of  1828;"  because  of  the  sinking  of  American  vessels,  said  to 
have  carried  articles  contraband  of  war,  although  Article  13  of 
the  Treaty  of  1799  provides  that:  "no  such  articles  carried  in 
the  vessels  of  either  party  to  the  enemy  of  the  other  shall  be 
deemed  contraband  so  as  to  induce  confiscation  or  condemnation 
or  a  loss  of  property  to  individuals."  It  was  rejected  because 
foreign  merchant  vessels  carrying  American  citizens  and  prop- 
erty were  sunk  by  German  submarines  without  warning  al- 
though by  Article  15  of  the  Treaty  of  1799  "all  persons  belong- 
ing to  any  vessel  of  war,  public  or  private,  who  shall  molest  or 
insult  in  any  manner  whatever  the  people,  vessel,  or  effects  of 
the  other  party  shall  be  responsible  in  their  persons  and  prop- 
erty for  damages,"  and  although  by  Article  12  of  the  Treaty  of 
1785,  "the  free  intercourse  and  commerce  of  the  subjects  or 
citizens  of  the  party  remaining  neutral  with  the  belligerent 
powers  shall  not  be  interrupted." 

Heedless  of  these  obligations  Germany  had  established  cer- 
tain barred  zones,  had  declared  that  within  them  all  vessels,  neu- 


337 

trals  included,  would  be  sunk  without  warning,  and  had  within 
these  zones  ruthlessly  sunk  vessels  and  jeopardized  or  destroyed 
the  lives  of  Americans  on  board.  Nay  more ;  since  the  severance 
of  diplomatic  relations  certain  American  citizens  had  been 
prevented  from  removing  from  Germany.  This  was  a  violation 
of  the  treaty,  was  a  disregard  "of  the  reciprocal  intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  in  times  of  peace,"  and  must  be  taken 
as  a  sure  sign  of  her  intention  to  disregard  "in  the  event  of  war 
the  similar  liberty  of  action  provided  for  in  Article  23  of  the 
Treaty  of  1799,  the  very  article  which  it  is  now  proposed  to 
interpret  and  supplement  almost  wholly  in  the  interests  of  the 
large  number  of  German  subjects  residing  in  the  United 
States." 

In  view  of  the  violations,  by  Germany,  of  plain  terms  of 
the  treaties  in  question;  in  view  of  "the  disregard  of  the  can- 
ons of  international  courtesy  and  comity  of  nations  in  the  treat- 
ment of  innocent  American  citizens  in  Germany,"  the  United 
States  could  not  see  any  advantage  likely  to  result  from  further 
explanations  of  any  articles  in  these  treaties.  Indeed,  the 
United  States  was  seriously  considering  whether  or  not  the 
Treaty  of  1828,  and  the  revised  articles  of  the  Treaties  of  1785 
and  1799  had  not  been,  in  effect,  abrogated  "by  the  German 
Government's  flagrant  violation  of  their  provisions."  It  would 
be  unjust  to  expect  one  party  to  hold  to  its  stipulations  while 
the  other  was  free  to  disregard  them. 

An  immediate  result  of  the  severance  of  diplomatic  rela- 
tions was  the  ending  of  American  relief  work  in  Belgium.  Mr. 
Warren  Gregory  of  the  American  Commission  for  Relief  in 
Belgium  was  notified  by  Baron  von  Der  Lancken,  civil  governor 
of  Brussels,  that  American  citizens  could  no  longer  hold  posi- 
tions under  the  Commission  in  the  occupied  territory  in  Bel- 
gium and  France,  but  that  a  few,  Mr.  Brand  Whitlock  among 
them,  might  reside  in  Brussels  and  supervise  the  work.  Fur- 
thermore automobiles  and  other  means  of  transportation  were 
to  be  denied  them.  Unable  to  work  under  these  conditions, 
the  German  authorities  were  informed  that  the  Americans 
would  officially  withdraw. 

"Immediately  after  the  break  in  relations,"  said  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  in  its  official  statement,  "the  German  authorities 


338    THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

withdrew  from  Mr.  Whitlock  the  diplomatic  privileges  and  im- 
munities which  he  had  up  to  that  time  enjoyed.  His  courier 
service  to  The  Hague  was  stopped.  He  was  denied  the  privilege 
of  communicating  with  the  Department  of  State  in  cipher,  and 
later  even  in  plain  language." 

Nevertheless  the  Government  and  the  Commission  had  "de- 
termined to  keep  the  good  work  going,  until  the  last  possible 
moment"  when  they  heard  that  between  the  twenty-fifth  of 
March  and  the  tenth  of  April  four  Belgium  relief  ships  loaded 
with  food  and  bound  from  our  country  to  Rotterdam  had  been 
sunk  by  German  submarines,  "without  warning  and  in  flagrant 
violation  of  the  solemn  engagements  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment. Protests  addressed  by  this  Government  to  Berlin  through 
the  intermediary  of  the  Spanish  Government  have  not  been  an- 
swered. 

"The  German  Government's  disregard  of  its  written  under- 
takings causes  grave  concern  as  to  the  future  of  the  relief  work. 
|In  any  event,  it  is  felt  that  the  American  staff  of  the  Com- 
mission can  no  longer  serve  with  advantage  in  Belgium."  The 
President,  therefore,  late  in  March  ordered  them  to  withdraw. 

Dutch  citizens  then  took  up  the  work,  with  Mr.  Hoover  di- 
recting it  from  Rotterdam. 

The  sins  of  our  country  as  viewed  by  the  Germans  after 
diplomatic  relations  were  broken  were  enumerated  by  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  in  a  speech  in  the  Reichstag.  For  more  than 
a  century,  said  the  Chancellor,  friendly  relations  with  America 
had  been  carefully  promoted.  "We  honored  them,  as  Bismarck 
once  put  it,  as  an  heirloom  from  Frederick  the  Great.  Both 
countries  profited  by  it,  both  giving  and  taking."  But  since 
the  war  opened  things  had  changed  on  our  side  of  the  water. 
Old  principles  had  been  overthrown.  "On  August  27,  1913, 
during  the  Mexican  troubles  President  Wilson,  in  a  solemn 
message  to  Congress,  declared  he  intended  to  follow  the  best 
usages  of  international  law  by  a  prohibition  of  the  supplying  of 
arms  to  both  Mexican  parties  at  war  against  each  other.  One 
year  later,  1914,  these  usages  apparently  were  no  longer  con- 
sidered good.  Countless  materials  of  war  have  been  supplied 
by  America  to  the  Entente,  and,  while  the  right  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizen  to  travel  without  hindrance  to  Entente  countries, 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  339 

and  the  right  to  trade  without  hindrance  with  France  and  Eng- 
land, even  through  the  midst  of  the  battlefields,  even  the  right 
of  such  trade  as  we  had  to  pay  for  with  German  blood,  while  all 
these  rights  were  jealously  guarded,  the  same  right  of  American 
citizens  towards  the  Central  Powers  did  not  seem  worthy  of 
protection  and  as  valuable." 

The  Chancellor  protested  against  the  assertion  that  by  the 
manner  in  which  Germany  withdrew  the  assurances  given  in 
the  note  of  May  4,  she  had  offended  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
United  States.  From  the  very  first  Germany  had  openly  and 
expressly  declared  that  these  assurances  would  be  withdrawn 
under  certain  conditions.  England  did  not  abandon  "the  iso- 
lation of  Germany."  The  Allies  were  not  made  to  respect 
the  principles  of  international  law,  "nor  made  to  follow  the  laws 
of  humanity." 

Breaking  off  diplomatic  relations  and  attempting  to  mobilize 
neutrals  against  Germany  would  not  make  "for  the  protection 
of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  proclaimed  by  the  United  States." 
Germany  "regretted  the  rupture  with  a  nation  which  by  her  his- 
tory seemed  to  be  destined  surely  to  work  with  us,  not  against 
us,  but  since  our  honest  wish  for  peace  has  met  only  jeering  on 
the  part  of  our  enemies,  there  is  no  more  going  backward. 
There  is  only  going  forward  possible  for  us." 

Professor  Hans  Delbrueck  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  at 
the  request  of  the  Associated  Press,  gave  his  views  on  America 
and  the  war.  He  believed,  he  said,  that  he  ought  to  state  very 
frankly  how  the  German  people  feel  towards  America. 

They  feel  bitterness  and  believe  they  have  been  wronged.  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  have  lost  fathers,  husbands,  and  sons  through 
American  ammunition.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  men  of 
Germany  have  been  maimed  for  life  with  American  ammunition. 

In  all  wars  the  makers  of  arms  and  ammunition  have  supplied 
the  belligerent  nations,  but  the  manufacturers  of  arms  are  not  the 
exponents  of  humanity.  Never  before  were  the  industries  of  peace 
of  a  country  not  a  belligerent  in  the  war  reorganized  to  kill.  Your 
people  forged  for  our  enemies  those  tremendously  effective  weapons 
of  death,  and  we  protested  in  vain. 

Then  we  were  to  receive  from  you  bread  for  our  noncombatants. 
Our  enemies  interfered.  You  said  their  interference  was  illegal, 
but  you  did  not  make  your  protest  effective. 


340     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Our  people  are  asking  with  growing  bitterness  the  reason  for 
this  discrimination.  There  may  be  many  technical  and  legal  answers 
to  this  question,  but  our  people  feel  that,  had  there  been  a  will,  there 
would  have  been  a  way.  We  have  been  told  time  and  again  that 
the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  is  deeply  rooted  in  your  race. 
Again  and  again  we  have  heard  repeated  your  President's  words,  "I 
will  contend  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  from  whatever  quarter  it  is 
violated  and  without  compromise." 

Our  people  were  told  that  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the 
seas  should  be  so  conducted  that  noncombatants  on  sea  and  land  would 
be  spared  the  sufferings  of  war.  Thus  our  people  patiently  looked 
on,  month  after  month,  while  a  continuous  stream  of  American  ammu- 
nition poured  into  England  and  Russia  unchecked  by  our  submarines. 

Now  we  are  going  to  fight  out  this  battle.  The  German  people 
had  wished  that  it  might  be  fought  out,  as  other  wars  had  been — 
between  enemy  and  enemy. 

As  February  closed  and  the  day  drew  near  when  the  session 
must  end  the  Senate  grew  restive  over  the  blockade  of  our  ports 
by  Germany.  Something  must  be  done  to  break  it,  and  in  order 
to  do  so  Senator  Fall  of  New  Mexico  introduced  a  bill  to  give 
authority  to  the  President  to  use  armed  vessels  to  protect 
American  ships;  to  permit  the  crews  of  merchantmen  to  re- 
sist search,  seizure  or  attack;  repel  by  force  any  assault,  and 
subdue,  capture  or  destroy  the  attacking  vessel.  Should  war 
break  out  before  the  next  session  of  Congress  the  President 
might  enlist  and  call  into  service  five  hundred  thousand  troops 
over  and  above  those  in  the  regular  army  and  the  National 
Guard.  But,  two  days  later,  the  President  once  more  appeared 
before  tbe  Senate  and  House  and  asked  for  means  to  maintain 
armed  neutrality. 

The  German  policy  of  ruthless  submarine  war  on  neutrals 
had,  he  said,  been  in  force  nearly  four  weeks.  It  was  too  soon 
to  determine  its  practical  results,  but  the  commerce  of  other 
neutrals  was  suffering  severely  though  perhaps  not  more 
severely  than  before  the  new  policy  was  put  into  operation.  Co- 
operation of  other  neutrals  to  stop  these  depredations  had  been 
asked,  "but  so  far  none  of  them  has  thought  it  wise  to  join  us 
in  any  common  course  of  action."  Our  commerce  bad  suffered, 
"rather  in  apprehension  than  in  fact,  rather  because  so  many 
of  our  ships  are  timidly  keeping  to  their  borne  ports,  than  be- 
cause American  ships  have  been  sunk," 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  341 

Two  of  our  ships,  the  Housatonic  and  the  Lyman  M.  Law, 
had  indeed  been  sunk.  "The  case  of  the  Housatonic,  which  was 
carrying  foodstuffs  consigned  to  a  London  firm,  was  essentially 
like  the  case  of  the  Frye,"  in  which  Germany  admitted  dam- 
ages, and  in  which,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Housatonic,  the  lives  of 
the  crew  "were  safeguarded  with  reasonable  care."  The  sink- 
ing of  the  Law,  "which  was  carrying  lemon  box  staves  to  Paler- 
mo," was  "accompanied  by  no  circumstances"  which  might  not 
have  been  expected  from  .the  use  of  submarines  against  mer- 
chantmen as  Germany  was  using  them.  In  short  he  could 
"only  say  that  the  overt  act"  he  hoped  "the  German  com- 
manders would  in  fact  avoid  has  not  occurred."  Nevertheless 
"it  would  be  foolish  to  deny  that  the  situation  is  fraught  with 
the  gravest  possibilities  and  dangers." 

"No  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  see  that  the  necessity  for 
definite  action  may  come  at  any  time,  if  we  are  in  fact,  and  not 
in  word  merely,  to  defend  our  elementary  rights  as  a  neutral 
nation.  It  would  be  most  imprudent  to  be  unprepared." 

Our  duty  was  clear;  only  the  manner  and  extent  of  doing 
it  remained  to  be  chosen,  and  since  diplomacy  has  failed  to 
safeguard  our  neutral  rights,  there  might  be  no  means  left  but 
armed  neutrality.  He  was  not  "proposing  or  contemplating 
war,  or  any  steps  that  need  lead  to  it."  He  was  merely  request- 
ing that  Congress  would  give  him  "the  means  and  authority  to 
safeguard  in  practice  the  right  of  a  great  people  who  are  at 
peace,"  and  who  desired  "to  follow  the  pursuits  of  peace  in 
quietness  and  good  will."  War  could  come  only  by  the  willful 
acts  and  aggressions  of  others.  He  believed  the  people  would 
be  willing  to  trust  him  to  act  with  restraint,  with  prudence, 
and  in  that  belief  he  asked  for  authority  "to  supply  our  mer- 
chant ships  with  defensive  arms,  should  that  become  necessary, 
and  with  the  means  of  using  them,  and  to  employ  any  other  in- 
strumentalities or  methods,"  necessary  to  protect  our  ships  and 
people  in  their  rightful  pursuits  on  the  sea.  He  asked  also  for 
a  sufficient  credit  to  enable  him  "to  provide  adequate  means  of 
protection  where  they  are  lacking,  including  adequate  insurance 
against  the  present  war  risks." 

The  appeal,  in  brief ,  set  forth  that  Germany  had  established 
a  blockade  of  our  coast  by  so  terrorizing  our  merchants  that 


342     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

our  ships  were  not  sent  to  sea ;  that  to  break  this  blockade  our 
ships  must  be  armed  for  defense ;  and  that  for  this  purpose  au- 
thority and  money  were  requested. 

To  meet  this  request  a  bill  was  at  once  introduced  in  the 
House  to  authorize  the  President  to  supply  arms,  ammunition, 
and  the  means  of  using  them,  to  American  armed  and  registered 
merchant  ships  and  to  appropriate' for  the  purpose  $100,000,000 
to  be  raised  by  the  issue  of  three  per  cent  bonds. 

Scarcely  had  the  President  finished  reading  his  address  when 
a  rumor  spread  through  the  Capital  that  the  Cunard  passenger 
liner  Laconia  had  been  torpedoed  and  an  American  woman  and 
her  daughter  lost.  Was  not  this,  it  was  asked,  the  overt  act  for 
which  the  President  was  waiting  ?  What  would  he  do  ?  Noth- 
ing, was  the  answer,  until  Congress  has  acted  on  his  request. 

By  the  newspapers  the  appeal  of  the  President  was  warmly 
approved.  He  had  asked  for  too  little;  not  too  much.  The 
powers  he  wished  were  barely  short  of  those  needed  for  war, 
but  the  situation  was  barely  short  of  war.  We  must  defend 
our  seamen  and  our  people  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights,  or 
make  a  cowardly  surrender  to  the  Power  that  has  forbidden  us 
to  use  them.  Arming  our  merchantmen  will  not  prevent  war. 
Germany  has  shown  that  she  will  not  slacken  her  ruthlessness 
in  order  to  avoid  war  with  the  United  States.  Nevertheless  our 
ships  must  have  the  free  use  of  the  sea,  must  defend  themselves 
against  German  submarines,  and  the  Government  must  furnish 
the  guns  and  the  gunners.  The  President  asks  for  nothing  more 
than  the  release  of  American  commerce.  If  German  sub- 
marines keep  our  ships  in  port  they  are  doing  their  blockade 
work  just  as  effectively  as  if  they  sank  the  ships.  If  Great 
Britain  is  starved  Germany  cares  not  how  ships  are  kept  off  the 
sea.  The  Cincinnati  Volksblatt  complained  that  while  the 
President  demanded  armed  neutrality  against  Germany,  he  did 
not  say  he  would  send  our  ships  under  convoy  to  neutral  ports 
from  which  they  were  barred  by  England.  "It  is  this  one  sided 
neutrality  that  will  drive  us  into  war,  for  such  is  the  ultimate 
effect  of  the  measures  proposed  by  the  President." 

Members  of  Congress  were  greatly  divided  in  opinion. 
"He  has  asked  us  for  a  blank  check,"  said  one.  "He  wants  us 
to  give  him  a  power  of  attorney  to  do  as  he  pleases,"  said  an- 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  343 

other.     "That  address  ought  to  be  printed  in  the  'help  wanted' 
columns,"  said  a  third. 

Republicans  held  that  the  three  words  ''such  other  instru- 
mentalities" in  the  bill  gave  him  authority  too  broad  in  such 
critical  times.  Under  it  he  might  use  the  land  and  naval  forces 
which  would  amount  to  a  surrender  of  the  Constitutional  right 
of  Congress  to  declare  war.  These  words  must  be  cut  out  and 
something  specific,  something  defihite  substituted.  Give  him,  it 
was  said,  the  money  needed;  give  him  authority  to  loan  guns 
and  gun  crews  to  American  ships,  but  not  the  "blanket  powers" 
requested. 

Such  was  the  situation  when  on  February  28,  1917,  the 
Associated  Press  announced  that  on  January  19,  Germany  was 
planning  war  on  the  United  States,  and  on  that  day  von  Eck- 
hardt,  German  Minister  to  Mexico,  was  instructed  by  Foreign 
Minister  Zimmermann  to  propose  an  alliance  with  Mexico 
against  the  United  States,  and  to  persuade  Mexico  to  seek  to 
bring  in  Japan. 

"On  the  first  of  February,"  the  instructions  read,  "we  in- 
tend to  begin  submarine  warfare  unrestricted.  In  spite  of  this, 
it  is  our  intention  to  endeavor  to  keep  neutral  with  the  United 
States  of  America. 

"If  this  attempt  is  not  successful,  we  propose  an  alliance  on 
the  following  basis  with  Mexico.  That  we  shall  make  war  to- 
gether and  together  make  peace.  We  shall  give  general  financial 
support  and  it  is  understood  that  Mexico  is  to  reconquer  the 
lost  territory  of  New  Mexico,  Texas  and  Arizona.  The  details 
are  left  to  you  for  settlement. 

"You  are  instructed  to  inform  the  President  of  Mexico  of 
the  above  in  the  greatest  confidence  as  soon  as  it  is  certain  that 
there  will  be  an  outbreak  of  war  with  the  United  States,  and 
suggest  that  the  President  of  Mexico,  on  his  own  initiative, 
should  communicate  with  Japan,  suggesting  adherence  at  once 
to  the  plan,  and  at  the  same  time  to  offer  to  mediate  between 
Germany  and  Japan. 

"Please  call  to  the  attention  of  the  President  of  Mexico  that 
the  employment  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare  now  promises 
to  compel  England  to  make  peace  in  a  few  months." 

The  Senate,  astonished  and  scarcely  able  to  believe  that  the 


344     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

note  as  published  in  the  newspapers  was  true,  requested  the 
President  to  furnish  whatever  information  he  had.  He  replied 
through  the  Secretary  of  State,  that  the  Government  was  "in 
possession  of  evidence  which  establishes  the  fact  that  the  note 
referred  to  is  authentic."  Indeed  Foreign  Secretary  Zimmer- 
mann  admitted  the  note  had  been  sent.  Asked  by  a  staff  mem- 
ber of  the  official  German  press  bureau  concerning  the  note, 
he  justified  it  as  a  proper  measure  of  precaution  in  view  of  the 
possibility  of  war  with  America. 

When  criticised  by  a  leader  of  the  Socialist  minority  in  the 
Reichstag  he  said  that  his  instructions  were  to  be  carried  out 
only  in  the  event  of  war  with  the  United  States.  Herr  Haase 
had  said  the  note  caused  great  indignation  in  the  United  States. 
Of  course  it  was  used  to  create  feeling  against  Germany.  But 
the  storm  had  abated,  and  "the  calm  and  sensible  politicians  and 
also  the  great  mass  of  the  American  people  saw  there  was  noth- 
ing to  object  to  in  the  instructions  themselves.  I  refer  especially 
to  the  statements  of  Senator  Underwood." 

To  the  reproach  that  he  had  attempted  to  join  Mexico  and 
Japan  against  the  United  States  he  replied,  if  we  wanted  Al- 
lies against  America,  Mexico  would  be  the  first  to  be  considered. 
The  relations  between  Mexico  and  Germany  from  the  time  of 
Porfirio  Diaz  had  been  "extremely  friendly  and  trustful.  The 
Mexicans,  moreover,  are  known  as  good  and  efficient  soldiers." 
Relations  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  could  hardly 
be  called  "friendly  and  trustful."  All  the  world  knew  that 
antagonism  existed  between  America  and  Japan.  He  believed 
they  were  stronger  than  those  which,  despite  the  war,  existed 
between  Germany  and  Japan.  Nor  was  there  anything  ex- 
traordinary in  his  wish  that  Mexico  should  join  with  Japan. 
Good  relations  between  the  two  had  long  existed. 

Opposition  to  the  armed  ship  bill  was  now  dropped  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  403  to  13. 

It  was  then  the  first  of  March  and  on  the  fourth  the  life  of 
the  Sixty-fourth  Congress  must  end.  In  the  Senate  a  little 
group  of  Senators  had  been  filibustering  for  several  days  to  pre- 
vent the  passage  of  revenue  and  appropriation  bills,  and  so  force 
the  President  to  call  a  special  session  of  the  new  Congress. 
They  now  extended  their  filibuster  to  the  armed  ship  bill,  and 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  345 

sought  to  prevent  a  vote  before  the  session  ended.  During  three 
days  the  debate  went  on,  and  lasted  all  through  the  night  of 
March  third  and  until  twelve  o'clock  noon  on  the  fourth  when 
the  session  ended  without  a  vote. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  that  day  seventy-five  of  the  ninety- 
six  members  of  the  Senate  signed  a  protest. 

"The  undersigned  United  States  Senators  favor  the  pas- 
sage of  Senate  Bill  8322,  to  authorize  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  arm  American  merchant  vessels. 

"A  similar  bill  already  has  passed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives by  a  vote  of  403  to  13. 

"Under  the  rules  of  the  Senate,  allowing  unlimited  de- 
bate, it  now  appears  to  be  impossible  to  obtain  a  vote  prior  to 
noon,  March  4,  1917,  when  the  session  of  Congress  expires. 

"We  desire  the  statement  entered  in  the  record  to  establish 
the  fact  that  the  Senate  favors  the  legislation  and  would  pass  it 
if  a  vote  could  be  obtained." 

A  few  minutes  later  the  President  took  the  oath  of  office  and 
entered  on  his  second  term.  The  day  was  Sunday.  The  cere- 
mony and  the  address  with  which,  ever  since  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington, it  has  been  the  custom  to  mark  the  inauguration  of  a 
President  were  therefore  deferred  till  Monday  the  fifth  of 
March.  But,  on  the  morning  of  that  day  when  the  people 
opened  their  newspapers,  they  found  spread  before  them  an 
indignant  arraignment,  by  the  President,  of  the  eleven  filibus- 
tering Senators. 
i 

The  termination  of  the  last  session  of  the  Sixty-fourth  Congress 
by  constitutional  limitation  disclosed  a  situation  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  country,  perhaps  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any 
modern  Government.  In  the  immediate  presence  of  a  crisis  fraught 
with  more  subtle  and  far-reaching  possibilities  of  national  danger 
than  any  other  Government  has  known  within  the  whole  history  of 
its  international  relations,  the  Congress  has  been  unable  to  act  either 
to  safeguard  the  country  or  to  vindicate  the  elementary  rights  of  its 
citizens.  More  than  500  of  the  531  members  of  the  two  houses  were 
ready  and  anxious  to  act;  the  House  of  Representatives  had  acted 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  but  the  Senate  was  unable  to  act 
because  a  little  group  of  eleven  Senators  had  determined  that  it 
should  not. 

The  Senate  has  no  rules  by  which  debate  can  be  limited  or 
brought  to  an  end;  no  rules  by  which  dilatory  tactics  of  any  kind 


346     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

can  be  prevented.  A  single  member  can  stand  in  the  way  of  action 
if  he  have  but  the  physical  endurance.  The  result  in  this  case  is  a 
complete  paralysis  alike  of  the  legislative  and  of  the  executive 
branches  of  the  Government. 

This  inability  of  the  Senate  to  act  has  rendered  some  of  the 
most  necessary  legislation  of  the  session  impossible  at  a  time  when 
the  need  of  it  was  most  pressing  and  most  evident.  The  bill  which 
would  have  permitted  such  combinations  of  capital  and  of  organiza- 
tion in  the  export  and  import  trade  of  the  country  as  the  circum- 
stances of  international  competition  have  made  imperative — a  bill 
which  the  business  judgment  of  the  whole  country  approved  and 
demanded — has  failed. 

The  opposition  of  one  or  two  Senators  has  made  it  impossible  to 
increase  the  membership  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to 
give  it  the  altered  organization  necessary  for  its  efficiency.  The 
conservation  bill,  which  would  have  released  for  immediate  use  the 
mineral  resources  which  are  still  locked  up  in  the  public  lands,  now 
that  their  release  is  more  imperatively  necessary  than  ever,  and  the 
bill  which  would  have  made  the  unused  water  power  of  the  country 
immediately  available  for  industry  have  both  failed,  though  they 
have  been  under  consideration  throughout  the  sessions  of  two  Con- 
gresses and  have  been  twice  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  appropriations  for  the  army  have  failed,  along  with  the 
appropriation  for  the  civil  establishment  of  the  Government,  the 
appropriations  for  the  military  academy  at  West  Point  and  the 
general  deficiency  bill.  It  has  proved  impossible  to  extend  the  powers 
of  the  Shipping  Board  to  meet  the  special  needs  of  the  new  situation 
into  which  our  commerce  has  been  forced  or  to  increase  the  gold 
reserve  of  our  national  banking  system  to  meet  the  unusual  circum- 
stances of  the  existing  financial  situation. 

It  would  not  cure  the  difficulty  to  call  the  Sixty-fifth  Congress  in 
extraordinary  session.  The  paralysis  of  the  Senate  would  remain. 
The  purpose  and  the  spirit  of  action  are  not  lacking  now.  The  Con- 
gress is  more  definitely  united  in  thought  and  purpose  at  this 
moment,  I  venture  to  say,  than  it  has  been  within  the  memory  of 
any  man  now  in  its  membership.  There  is  not  only  the  most  united 
patriotic  purpose,  but  the  objects  members  have  in  view  are  per- 
fectly clear  arid  definite.  But  the  Senate  cannot  act  unless  its  leaders 
can  obtain  unanimous  consent.  ,Its  majority  is  powerless,  helpless. 
In  the  midst  of  a  crisis  of  extraordinary  peril,  when  only  definite  and 
decided  action  can  make  the  nation  safe  or  shield  it  from  war  itself 
by  the  aggression  of  others,  action  is  impossible. 

Although  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  nation  and  the  representa- 
tives of  the  nation  stand  back  of  the  Executive  with  unprecedented 
unanimity  and  spirit,  the  impression  made  abroad  will,  of  course, 
be  that  it  is  not  so  and  that  other  Governments  may  act  as  they 
please  without  fear  that  this  Government  can  do  anything  at  all. 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  347 

We  cannot  explain.  The  explanation  is  incredible.  The  Senate  of 
the  United  States  is  the  only  legislative  body  in  the  world  which 
cannot  act  when  its  majority  is  ready  for  action.  A  little  group  of 
willful  men,  representing  no  opinion  but  their  own,  have  rendered 
the  great  Government  of  the  United  States  helpless  and  contemptible. 
There  is  but  one  remedy.  The  only  remedy  is  that  the  rules  of 
the  Senate  shall  be  so  altared  that  it  can  act.  The  country  can  be 
relied  upon  to  draw  the  moral.  I  believe  that  the  Senate  can  be 
relied  on  to  supply  the  means  of  action  and  save  the  country  from 
disaster. 

The  filibuster  in  the  Senate  aroused  the  indignation  of  the 
people.  Mass  meetings  were  held  to  condemn  the  little  band 
of  willful  men.  Some  of  them  were  hung  in  effigy.  Resolu- 
tions of  protest  were  adopted  by  societies  and  associations  of 
importance;  the  legislatures  of  many  states  passed  resolutions 
pledging  support  to  the  President,  and  the  Senate  made  haste 
to  change  its  rules. 

That  branch  of  Congress,  according  to  long  established  cus- 
tom, had  assembled  after  the  inauguration  to  act  on  any  nom- 
ination to  office  the  President  might  make.  Never,  in  the 
whole  course  of  its  existence,  had  it  laid  any  restraint  on  the 
length  of  debate.  The  previous  question  was  unknown  in  its 
proceedings.  But  now,  under  the  pressure  of  public  opinion, 
on  the  eighth  of  March,  1917,  a  rule  was  adopted  which  pro- 
vides that  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Senators  present  a  measure 
may  be  brought  to  a  vote ;  that  thereafter  each  Senator  may  de- 
bate the  measure  only  one  hour;  that  the  question  of  its  pas- 
sage must  then  be  put;  and  that  no  dilatory  motions  or  debate 
shall  be  in  order. 

The  Senate  having  thus  amended  its  rules,  the  President  on 
March  ninth  summoned  the  Sixty-fifth  Congress  to  meet  on 
April  sixteenth,  and  on  the  twelfth  of  March  the  Department 
of  State  informed  all  members  of  the  Diplomatic  body  that, 
because  of  the  announcement  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment on  January  thirty-first,  1917,  that  all  vessels  found  within 
certain  zones  would  be  sunk  without  warning,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  would  place  armed  guards  upon  all  Ameri- 
can merchant  ships  passing  through  the  barred  areas.  The  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  then  requested  all  newspapers  and  news 
agencies  in  the  country  not  to  publish  the  sailings  of  American 


348     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

ships  from  home  or  foreign  ports,  and  give  no  information  con- 
cerning the  arming  of  ships. 

While  the  country  awaited  the  meeting  of  Congress  in 
special  session,  the  world  was  amazed  to  hear  that  Russia  was 
in  a  state  of  revolution  and  that  the  dynasty  of  the  Romanoffs 
which  had  ruled  Russia  for  three  hundred  years  had  been  swept 
away.  Signs  of  a  coming  crisis  had  not  been  wanting.  A  belief 
had  long  been  growing  that  a  large  part  of  the  nobility  and 
the  ruling  classes  was  strongly  pro-German,  and  was  intriguing 
to  have  Russia  desert  the  Allies  and  make  a  separate  peace,  and 
that  the  bad  administration  of  army  affairs  was  a  plot  to  impede 
the  war.  Food  in  the  cities  grew  scarcer  and  scarcer.  Pro- 
tests were  made  by  workingmen  in  Petrograd,  and  there  were 
threats  of  a  general  strike.  Letters  in  the  newspapers,  from 
popular  leaders  in  the  Duma,  besought  the  people  not  to  make 
disorders  or  hinder  the  manufacture  of  munitions.  But,  early 
in  March,  when  they  were  told  that  flour  was  so  scarce  that 
for  some  days  there  could  be  no  bread,  strikes  were  declared; 
the  disturbances  took  on  the  form  of  a  revolution;  the  troops 
joined  the  people,  and  anarchy  reigned.  The  Government  was 
paralyzed.  There  was  fighting  in  the  streets  of  Petrograd; 
but,  by  the  night  of  March  12,  the  revolutionists  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  city  and  the  red  flag  replaced  the  colors  of  Russia. 
The  Czar  ordered  the  Duma  dissolved,  but  he  was  not  obeyed. 
His  authority  was  gone.  A  Provisional  Government  was  estab- 
lished, and  he,  in  turn,  was  bidden  to  abdicate.  March  15, 
1917,  he  yielded  and  appointed  his  son  Alexis  as  his  successor ; 
but  that  evening  changed  his  mind  and  named  his  brother 
Michael.  The  right  to  do  this  was  denied  by  the  Provisional 
Government.  What  form  of  government  there  should  be  in 
Russia  was  for  the  whole  people  to  decide,  acting  through  an 
Assembly  elected  by  universal  suffrage.  Michael  declined  the 
throne,  and  Russian  autocracy  became  a  thing  of  the  past. 
From  Petrograd  the  revolution  spread  to  Moscow,  to  all  the 
cities  of  the  new  Republic,  and  the  new  Government  was 
accepted  with  enthusiasm  by  the  armies  at  the  front.  On  the 
twenty-first  of  March  it  was  formally  recognized  by  our  Ambas- 
sador, and  two  days  later  by  the  Ambassadors  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Italy.  Meantime  the  Czar,  the  Czarina  and  some 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN  349 

two  hundred  courtiers  and  upholders  of  the  old  regime  were 
imprisoned  in  the  Alexandrovsky  Palace.  A  little  later  all 
save  Nicholas  and  Alexandra  were  removed  to  the  fortress  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

Would  the  new  Government  stand,  and  if  it  did  would  Rus- 
sia fight,  or,  intoxicated  by  Liberty,  would  she  make  a  separate 
peace,  were  questions  which  now  gave  great  concern  to  all  the 
belligerents.  Instructions  from  Foreign  Minister  Milyukov 
bade  the  men  who  represented  the  new  Russia  in  neutral  and 
Allied  countries  say,  as  he  had  said  to  the  representatives  of 
the  Allies,  Russia  did  not  wish  the  war  which  for  three  years 
has  drenched  the  world  with  blood.  Though  a  victim  of  long 
prepared  aggression,  she  would  continue,  as  in  the  past,  to 
struggle  against  the  spirit  of  conquest  of  a  predatory  race  seek- 
ing to  subject  Europe  of  the  twentieth  century  to  the  shame 
of  domination  by  Prussian  militarism.  Faithful  to  the  com- 
pact which  joined  her  to  her  glorious  allies,  Russia  was  re- 
solved to  "fight  by  their  side  against  the  common  enemy  until 
the  end,  without  cessation  and  without  faltering." 

Tons  of  grain  and  other  foodstuffs  found  hidden  in  obscure 
places  in  Petrograd  confirmed  the  belief  that  the  pretended 
shortage  was  part  of  the  plan  of  the  old  regime  to  force  Russia 
to  a  separate  peace. 

The  first  news  of  what  was  happening  in  Russia  reached 
our  country  March  16,  1917,  and  was  quickly  followed  by  the 
intelligence  that  three  American  ships,  the  City  of  Memphis, 
the  Illinois  and  the  Vigilancia,  had  been  sunk  by  German 
U-boats.  Two  were  homeward  bound  in  ballast,  and  all  three 
were  American  built,  owned  and  manned.  The  City  of  Mem- 
phis left  Cardiff  in  ballast  on  March  16  and  about  five  o'clock 
the  next  day  encountered  a  U-boat,  whose  commander  gave  the 
crew  fifteen  minutes  to  leave  the  ship.  The  men,  some  fifty- 
seven  in  number,  entered  five  boats;  a  torpedo  from  the  sub- 
marine then  struck  the  Memphis  on  the  starboard  side,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  she  sank.  During  the  night  the  boats  became 
separated,  but  early  Sunday  morning  a  patrol  boat  picked 
up  three  of  them  containing  thirty-three  men,  almost  all 
Americans. 


350     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

The  Vigilancia  was  torpedoed  without  any  warning,  but  the 
Captain  and  twenty-eight  men  landed  on  the  Scilly  Islands. 

The  overt  act  had  now  been  committed,  if  indeed  it  had  not 
been  committed  long  before.  That  Germany  was  determined 
to  send  to  the  bottom  every  vessel,  whatever  its  character,  neu- 
tral merchantman,  passenger,  Belgian  Relief,  found  within  her 
forbidden  zones  was  no  longer  to  be  doubted.  War  with  Ger- 
many existed. 


CHAPTEK 


WE    ENTER    THE    WAR 

WHAT  the  President  thought  of  the  situation  was  made 
manifest  when,  on  March  21,  he  recalled  his  proclamation  of 
March  9  and  summoned  Congress  to  meet  in  extraordinary  ses- 
sion at  noon  on  April  2,  instead  of  April  16,  "to  receive  a 
communication  concerning  grave  matters  of  national  policy 
which  should  be  taken  immediately  under  consideration." 

To  the  Sixty-fifth  Congress,  when  it  assembled  on  the 
appointed  day,  the  President  delivered  his  war  message  at  the 
unusual  hour  of  half-past  eight  in  the  evening.  All  day  long 
the  pacifists  had  been  active  in  their  opposition.  They  sought 
to  get  possession  of  the  Capitol  steps  up  which  the  President 
was  to  go  ;  but  were  dispersed  by  the  police.  Some  entered  the 
room  of  the  Vice-President,  behaved  in  an  unseemly  manner 
and  were  put  out.  Others  attacked  Senator  Lodge.  It 
became  necessary  as  a  means  of  precaution  to  guard  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  Capitol  with  two  troops  of  cavalry,  and  put 
secret  service  men  and  police  on  guard  in  the  corridors. 
Another  troop  of  cavalry  guarded  the  President  while  on  his 
way  to  the  Capitol  from  the  White  House.  Never  on  any 
former  visit  had  he  met  with  such  applause,  such  cheering,  as 
greeted  him  as  he  entered  the  Chamber  of  the  House,  walked 
to  the  Speaker's  desk  and  looked  out  upon  an  excited  audience 
almost  every  member  of  which  was  waving  or  wearing  a  na- 
tional flag.  It  was  some  minutes  before  he  was  able  to  begin 
his  address.  He  said: 

"GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS  : 

I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session  because 
there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of  policy  to  be  made,  and  made 
immediately,  which  it  was  neither  right  nor  constitutionally  permis- 
sible that  I  should  assume  the  responsibility  of  making. 

351 


352     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

On  the  third  of  February  last  I  officially  laid  before  you  the 
extraordinary  announcement  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  February  it  was  its  purpose  to  put 
aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of  humanity  and  use  its  submarines  to 
sink  every  vessel  that  sought  to  approach  either  the  ports  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  or  the  western  coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the 
ports  controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Mediterranean. 

That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  German  submarine 
warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since  April  of  last  year  the  Imperial 
Government  had  somewhat  restrained  the  commanders  of  its  under- 
sea craft  in  conformity  with  its  promise  then  given  to  us  that  pas- 
senger boats  should  not  be  sunk  and  that  due  warning  would  be  given 
to  all  other  vessels  which  its  submarines  might  seek  to  destroy  when 
no  resistance  was  offered  or  escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that 
their  crews  were  given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their  lives  in 
their  open  boats.  .  .  . 

The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside.  Vessels  of 
every  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  character,  their  cargo,  their 
destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly  sent  to  the  bottom  with- 
out warning  and  without  thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those  on  board, 
the  vessels  of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  those  of  belligerents. 

Even  hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to  the  sorely  be- 
reaved and  stricken  people  of  Belgium,  though  the  latter  were  pro- 
vided with  safe-conduct  through  the  prescribed  areas  by  the  German 
Government  itself  and  were  distinguished  by  unmistakable  marks  of 
identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the  same  reckless  lack  of  compassion 
or  of  principle.  .  .  . 

The  present  German  submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is  a 
warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a  war  against  all  nations.  American 
ships  have  been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways  which  it  has 
stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and  people  of  other 
neutral  and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  and  overwhelmed  in 
the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no  discrimination.  The 
challenge  is  to  all  mankind.  Each  nation  must  decide  for  itself  how 
it  will  meet  it. 

The  choice  we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made  with  a  modera- 
tion of  counsel  and  a  temperateness  of  judgment  befitting  our  char- 
acter and  our  motives  as  a  nation.  We  must  put  excited  feeling  away. 
Our  motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  victorious  assertion  of  the 
physical  might  of  the  nation,  but  only  the  vindication  of  right,  of 
human  right,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single  champion.  .  .  . 

There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are  incapable  of  making; 
we  will  not  choose  the  path  of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored  or  violated.  The 
wrongs  against  which  we  now  array  ourselves  are  not  common  wrongs ; 
they  cut  to  the  very  roots  of  human  life. 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  353 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical  character 
of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the  grave  responsibilities  which  it 
involves,  but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to  what  I  deem  my  constitu- 
tional duty,  I  advise  that  the  Congress  declare  the  recent  course  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than 
war  against  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States;  that 
it  formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which  has  thus  been  thrust 
upon  it  and  that  it  take  immediately  steps  not  only  to  put  the  coun- 
try in  a  more  thorough  state  of  defense,  but  also  to  exert  all  its 
power  and  employ  all  its  resources,  to  bring  the  Government  of  the 
German  Empire  to  terms  and  end  the  war.  .  .  . 

While  we  do  these  things — these  deeply  momentous  things — let 
us  be  very  clear,  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the  world,  what  our  motives 
and  our  objects  are.  .  .  . 

Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  principles  of  peace 
and  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world  against  selfish  and  autocratic 
power  and  to  set  up  among  the  really  free  and  self-governed  peoples 
of  the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  action  as  will  henceforth 
insure  the  observance  of  those  principles.  .  .  . 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have  no  feel- 
ing toward  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and  friendship.  It  was  not 
upon  their  impulse  that  their  Government  acted  in  entering  this  war. 
It  was  not  with  their  previous  knowledge  or  approval. 

It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars  used  to  be  determined  upon 
in  the  old,  unhappy  days  when  peoples  were  nowhere  consulted  by 
their  rulers  and  wars  were  provoked  and  waged  in  the  interest  of 
dynasties  or  of  little  groups  of  ambitious  men  who  were  accustomed 
to  use  their  fellow  men  as  pawns  and  tools. 

One  of  the  things  that  have  served  to  convince  us  that  the  Prus- 
sian autocracy  was  not  and  could  never  be  our  friend,  is  that  from 
the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has  filled  our  unsuspecting  com- 
munities and  even  our  offices  of  Government  with  spies  and  set  crimi- 
nal intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against  our  national  unity  and  counsel, 
our  peace  within  and  without  our  industries  and  our  commerce. 

Indeed,  it  .is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were  here  even  before  the 
war  began ;  and  it  is  unhappily  not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  a  fact 
proved  in  our  courts  of  justice,  that  the  intrigues  which  have  more 
than  once  come  perilously  near  to  disturbing  the  peace  and  dislocating 
the  industries  of  the  country  have  been  carried  on  at  the  instigation, 
with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  personal  direction  of  official 
agents  of  the  Imperial  Government  accredited  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States. 

But  they  have  played  their  part  in  serving  to  convince  us  at  last 
that  that  Government  entertains  no  real  friendship  for  us  and  means 
to  act  against  our  peace  and  security  at  its  convenience.  That  it 


354     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

means  to  stir  up  enemies  against  us  at  our  very  doors  the  intercepted 
note  to  the  German  Minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose  because  we 
know  that  in  such  a  Government,  following  such  methods,  we  can 
never  have  a  friend;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its  organized  power, 
always  lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we  know  not  what  purpose,  there 
can  be  no  assured  security  of  the  democratic  Governments  of  the 
world. 

We  are  now  about  to  accept  gauge  of  battle  with  this  natural  foe 
to  liberty,  and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the  nation 
to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power.  We  are  glad,  now 
that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pretense  about  them,  to 
fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the  world  and  for  the  liberation 
of  its  peoples,  the  German  peoples  included;  for  the  rights  of  nations 
great  and  small  and  the  privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their 
way  of  life  and  of  obedience.  The  world  must  be  made  safe  for 
democracy.  Its  peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  tested  foundations 
of  political  liberty. 

We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no  conquest,  no 
dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities  for  ourselves,  no  material  com- 
pensation for  the  sacrifices  we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  but  one 
of  the  champions  of  the  rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied 
when  those  rights  have  been  as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the  freedom 
of  the  nations  can  make  them. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  Governments  allied  with  the  Imperial 
Government  of  Germany  because  they  have  not  made  war  upon  us 
or  challenged  us  to  defend  our  right  and  our  honor.  The  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  has,  indeed,  avowed  its  unqualified  indorse- 
ment and  acceptance  of  the  reckless  and  lawless  submarine  warfare 
adopted  now  without  disguise  by  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
and  it  has,  therefore,  not  been  possible  for  this  Government  to  receive 
Count  Tarnowski,  the  Ambassador  recently  accredited  to  this  Gov- 
ernment by  the  Imperial  and  Koyal  Government  of  Austria-Hungary ; 
but  that  Government  has  not  actually  engaged  in  warfare  against 
citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  seas,  and  I  take  the  liberty,  for 
the  present  at  least,  of  postponing  a  discussion  of  our  relations  with 
the  authorities  at  Vienna.  We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are 
clearly  forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means  of  defending 
our  rights. 

We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of  the  German 
people,  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the  early  reestablishment 
of  intimate  relations  of  mutual  advantage  between  us,  however  hard 
it  may  be  for  them,  for  the  time  being,  to  believe  that  this  is  spoken 
from  our  hearts. 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  355 

We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an  opportunity  to  prove  that  friend- 
ship in  our  daily  attitude  and  actions  toward  the  millions  of  men 
and  women  of  German  birth  and  native  sympathy  who  live  among 
us  and  share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be  proud  to  prove  it  toward  all 
who  are  in  fact  loyal  to  their  neighbors  and  to  the  Government  in 
the  hour  of  test. 

They  are,  most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as  if  they 
had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance.  They  will  be  prompt 
to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and  restraining  the  few  who  may  be  of 
a  different  mind  and  purpose. 

If  there  should  be  disloyalty  it  will  be  dealt  with  with  a  firm 
hand  of  stern  repression;  but  if  it  lifts  its  head  at  all  it  will  lift  it 
only  here  and  there,  and  without  countenance  except  from  a  lawless 
and  malignant  few. 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
gress, which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing  you.  There  are, 
it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice  ahead  of  us.  It 
is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful  people  into  war — into 
the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilization  itself  seem- 
ing to  be  in  the  balance. 

But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we  shall  fight 
for  the  things  which  we  have  Always  carried  nearest  our  hearts — 
for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those  who  submit  to  authority  to 
have  a  voice  in  their  own  government,  for  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  small  nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert 
of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  make 
the  world  itself  at  last  free. 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  fortunes,  every- 
thing that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have,  with  the  pride  of 
those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come  when  America  is  privileged 
to  spend  her  blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her 
birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has  treasured.  God 
helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other. 

That  night,  before  the  two  Houses  adjourned,  a  resolution 
declaring  a  state  of  war  existed  was  introduced  in  each. 

WHEREAS,  The  recent  acts  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
are  acts  of  war  against  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United 
States ; 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  state  of 
war  between  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government 
which  has  thus  been  thrust  upon  the  United  States  is  hereby  formally 
declared ;  and 

That  the  President  be  and  he  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed 


356     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

to  take  immediate  steps  not  only  to  put  the  country  in  thorough  state 
of  defense,  but  also  exert  all  of  its  power  and  employ  all  of  its 
resources  to  carry  011  war  against  the  Imperial  German  Government 
and  to  bring  the  conflict  to  a  successful  termination. 

k 

After  a  debate  of  thirteen  hours  the  resolution  passed  the 
Senate,  and  April  5  came  before  the  House  with  a  long  report 
from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  The  conduct  of  Ger- 
many towards  the  Government,  the  people  and  their  interests, 
the  Committee  said,  had  been  discourteous,  unjust,  cruel,  bar- 
barous and  wanting  in  honesty  and  fair  dealing.  The  Impe- 
rial Government  was  waging  war  upon  our  people  and  our  com- 
merce and  no  course  was  open  to  us  but  to  accept  the  gage 
of  battle,  declare  that  a  state  of  war  existed,  and  wage  that 
war  vigorously.  Since  its  note  of  February  4,  1915,  declaring 
that  the  German  navy  had  been  ordered  "to  abstain  from  all 
vviolence  against  neutral  vessels  recognizable  as  such,"  and  its 
note  of  February  16,  1915,  declaring  that  it  was  "far  indeed 
from  the  intention  of  the  German  Government  ever  to  destroy 
neutral  lives  and  neutral  property,"  the  British  steamer 
Falaba  had  been  torpedoed ;  the  American  steamer  Cusliing  had 
been  attacked  by  an  airship;  the  American  steamer  Gulfliglit, 
the  British  liner  Lusitania,  and  the  American  steamer  Nebras- 
kan  had  been  sunk  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  of  our 
citizens  had  perished;  the  Armenian  had  been  torpedoed;  and 
the  Orduna,  the  Leo,  the  Leelanaw,  the  Arabic,  Nicobian  and 
Hesperian  destroyed  with  the  loss  of  twenty-three  American 
lives. 

The  Committee  then  called  attention  to  the  assurance  of  the 
German  Ambassador  on  September  1,  1915,  that  "Liners  will 
not  be  sunk  by  our  submarines  without  warning  and  without 
safety  of  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  provided  that  the  liners 
do  not  try  to  escape  or  offer  resistance";  and  to  the  note  of 
November  29  stating  that  "the  German  Government  quite 
shares  the  view  of  the  American  Government  that  all  possible 
care  must  be  taken  for  the  security  of  the  crew  and  passengers 
of  a  vessel  to  be  sunk.  Consequently  the  persons  found  on  a 
vessel  may  not  be  ordered  into  her  lifeboats  except  when  the 
general  conditions,  that  is  to  say,  the  weather,  the  conditions 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  357 

of  the  sea,  and  the  neighborhood  of  coasts,  afford  absolute  cer- 
tainty that  the  boats  will  reach  the  nearest  port." 

Yet  even  these  pledges  were  not  kept.  In  December  the 
American  steamers  Communipaw  and  Petrolite,  the  Japanese 
liner  Yasaka  Maru,  and  the  liner  Persia,  were  sunk.  On  the 
Persia  were  500  passengers,  of  whom  but  165  were  saved. 
Among  the  lost  was  the  American  Consul  going  to  his  post. 
In  March  the  French  liner  Patria,  with  Americans  aboard  was 
sunk  without  warning;  the  Norwegian  bark  Silius  with  seven 
Americans  aboard ;  the  British  steamers  Berwindvale  and  Eng- 
lishman with  Americans  aboard;  the  French  unarmed  channel 
steamer  Sussex  and  the  British  liners  Manchester  Engineer  and 
the  Eagle  Point.  On  the  Sussex,  twenty-four  Americans  were 
injured. 

Against  all  these  acts  we  had  protested  in  vain.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1915,  the  German  Government  was  told  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  could  not  reconcile  such  acts  "with 
the  friendly  relations  so  happily  existing  between  the  two  gov- 
ernments"; that  it  "would  be  constrained  to  hold  the  Imperial 
Government  to  a  strict  accountability  for  such  acts  of  their 
naval  authorities."  In  July,  1915,  the  German  Government 
was  told  that  "repetition  by  commanders  of  German  naval 
vessels  of  acts  in  contravention  of  those  rights  must  be  regarded 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  when  they  affect 
American  citizens,  as  deliberately  unfriendly."  In  April, 

1916,  the  German  Government  was  warned  that  if  it  did  "not 
immediately"  abandon  "its  present  methods  of  submarine  war- 
fare against  passenger  and  freight-carrying  vessels  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever 
diplomatic  relations." 

In  her  answer  of  May  4  Germany  gave  assurances  that 
new  orders  had  been  given  to  her  naval  forces  "in  accordance 
with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and  search  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  merchant  vessels,"  and  lived  up  to  it  until  January  31, 

1917,  when  her  ruthless  submarine  warfare  was  resumed. 
Turning  from  this  summary  of  violated  promises,  the  Com- 
mittee passed  to  a  review  of  German  intrigues  in  our  country 
and  told  of  the  doings  of  Captain  von  Papen  and  Captain 
Boy-Ed ;  how  Dr.  Chakrabarty  received  $60,000  from  the  Ger- 


358     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

man  Embassy  for  "Indian  revolutionary  propaganda  in  this 
country";  how  the  German  Embassy  employed  Ernest  T. 
Euphrat  to  carry  information  between  Berlin  and  Washington 
under  an  American  passport;  how  officers  of  interned  warships 
violated  their  word  of  honor  and  how  six  of  them  escaped  in 
a  boat  purchased  with  money  supplied  by  the  German  Consul 
at  Eichmond;  how  under  the  eyes  of  Captain  von  Papen  and 
Wolf  von  Igel,  Hans  von  Wedell  maintained  an  office  for  the 
procurement  of  fraudulent  passports  for  German  reservists; 
how  James  J.  F.  Archibald,  under  cover  of  an  American  pass- 
port and  in  the  pay  of  Ambassador  von  BernstorfF,  carried  dis- 
patches for  Ambassador  Dumba  and  committed  other  unneutral 
acts ;  how  Albert  O.  Sander  and  other  German  agents  sent  spies 
to  England  protected  by  American  passports ;  how  when  Irving 
Guy  Hies  with  an  American  passport  went  to  Germany  it  was 
taken  from  him  and  held  for  a  day;  how  when  Paul  Julius 
Hensel,  a  German  spy,  was  arrested  in  London  he  had  a  coun- 
terfeit of  the  Hies  passport  in  his  possession;  how  prominent 
officials  of  the  Hamburg- American  Line  under  the  direction  of 
Boy-Ed  attempted  to  supply  German  warships  at  sea,  how  ves- 
sels were  sent  from  San  Francisco,  and  how  with  funds  fur- 
nished by  Captain  Franz  von  Papen,  Werner  Horn  attempted 
to  blow  up  the  international  bridge  at  Vanceboro,  Maine,  and 
Albert  Kaltschmidt  attempted  to  blow  up  a  factory  at  Walker- 
ville,  and  the  armory  at  Windsor,  Canada. 

The  Committee  next  told  of  bomb  plots  against  ships.  Ger- 
man agents  had  been  convicted  and  sentenced  for  making  bombs 
to  be  attached  to  allied  ships  leaving  New  York.  Under  the 
direction  of  von  Papen  and  Wolf  von  Igel,  Captain  von  Kleist, 
Captain  Wolpert  of  the  Atlas  Steamship  Company,  and  Captain 
Rode  of  the  Hamburg- American  Line  made  incendiary  bombs 
and  put  them  on  board  allied  ships.  The  shells  were  made  on 
the  steamship  Friedrich  der  Grosse.  Captain  Franz  Eintelen 
came  from  Germany,  secretly,  to  prevent  exportation  of  muni- 
tions to  the  Allies,  organized  and  financed  Labor's  National 
Peace  Council,  and  tried  to  bring  about  strikes. 

Consul  General  Bopp  at  San  Francisco  and  Vice-Consul 
General  von  Schaick  and  others  had  been  convicted  of  sending 
agents  into  Canada  to  blow  up  bridges,  tunnels  and  wreck  ves- 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  359 

sels  sailing  from  Pacific  Coast  ports  with  war  material  for 
Russia  and  Japan.  Paul  Ko'nig,  head  of  secret  service  of  the 
Hamburg-American  Line,  sent  spies  to  Canada  to  gather  infor- 
mation concerning  the  Welland  Canal,  and  movement  of  troops ; 
bribed  a  bank  employee  to  give  information  concerning  ship- 
ments to  the  Allies;  sent  spies  to  Europe  with  American  pass- 
ports to  secure  military  information,  and  was  involved  with  von 
Papen  in  his  bomb  plots.  Finally,  the  indignities  heaped  on 
American  consular  officials  by  German  frontier  authorities  who 
ordered  them  stripped  and  searched,  the  detention  and  mal- 
treatment of  the  Yarrowdale  prisoners,  the  detention  of  Gerard 
and  the  American  correspondents,  and  the  Zimmermann  note  to 
Mexico  were  passed  in  review.  No  such  an  arraignment  of  a 
great  Power  had  ever  before  been  made  by  a  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

After  some  fifty  speeches  attacking  and  defending  Germany 
the  House,  a  few  minutes  after  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
April  5,  1917,  passed  the  joint  resolution.  The  yeas  were  373 
and  the  nays  50. 

Thus  empowered  to  act,  the  President  on  April  6  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  that  "a  state  of  war  exists  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government." 

Two  days  later  the  Austrian  charge  d'affaires  asked  for 
passports  for  himself,  the  embassy  staff,  the  consuls  and  the 
Ambassador-designate  Count  Tarnowski,  and  diplomatic  rela- 
tions with  Austria  were  severed.  The  Count,  appointed  to  suc- 
ceed Dr.  Dumba,  reached  our  country  just  as  diplomatic  rela- 
tions were  severed  with  Germany  and  had  not  been  received  by 
the  President  when  war  was  declared.  Fourteen  Austrian  mer- 
chant ships,  in  our  ports,  were  now  seized  by  the  Government 
as  a*  measure  of  precaution. 

From  the  heads  of  the  Entente  Powers,  from  ministers  of 
state,  from  mayors  of  cities,  from  learned  societies  and  uni- 
versities, came  scores  of  telegrams  of  thanks  and  congratula- 
tions to  the  President  and  the  People  of  the  United  States. 
By  order  of  the  War  Cabinet  the  war  speech  of  President 
Wilson  was  placarded  on  all  official  billboards  throughout 
France;  celebrations  were  held  and  our  flag  was  everywhere 


displayed.  President  Poincare,  of  France,  sent  a  long  dispatch 
to  President  Wilson.  *. 

"At  the  moment  when,  under  the  generous  inspiration  of 
yourself,  the  great  American  Republic,  faithful  to  its  ideals 
and  its  traditions,  is  coming  forward  to  defend  with  force  of 
arms  the  cause  of  justice  and  of  liberty,  the  people  of  France 
are  filled  with  the  deepest  feelings  of  brotherly  appreciation." 
He  was  sure  he  expressed  "the  thought  of  all  France  in  ex- 
pressing to  you  and  to  the  American  Nation  the  joy  and  the 
pride  which  we  feel  to-day  as  our  hearts  once  again  beat  in 
unison  with  yours."  .  .  .  "(In  never-to-be-forgotten  language  you 
have  made  yourself,  before  the  universe,  the  eloquent  inter- 
preter of  outraged  laws  and  a  menaced  civilization.  Honor 
to  you,  Mr.  President,  and  to  your  noble  country." 

At  Rome  a  great  multitude  carrying  our  flag  and  singing 
The  Star-Spangled  Banner  went  to  the  American  Embassy  to 
cheer  and  shout,  and  former  Premier  Liezzatti  and  sixty-seven 
deputies  dispatched  an  address  to  the  President. 

"Your  message,  with  its  ideal  beauty  and  political  contents, 
brings  us  back  to  the  dawn  of  civilization  when  the  United 
States,  inspired  by  Washington,  gave  to  the  oppressed  people 
of  Europe  and  of  the  two  Americas  the  fruitful  example  of 
their  redemption.  Your  message  is  not  addressed  to  the  United 
States  alone,  but  to  all  humanity,  and  awakens  the  noblest 
instincts  among  free  nations.  Your  message  is  the  hymn  of 
freedom." 

King  George,  "on  behalf  of  the  Empire,"  offered  heartfelt 
congratulations  "on  the  entry  of  the  United  States  of  America 
into  the  war  for  the  great  ideals  so  nobly  set  forth  in  your 
speech  to  Congress.  The  moral  not  less  than  the  material 
results  of  this  notable  declaration  are  incalculable,  and  civili- 
zation itself  will  owe  much  to  the  decision  at  which,  in  the 
greatest  crisis  of  the  world's  history,  the  people  of  the  great 
Republic  have  arrived." 

Lloyd-George  in  behalf  of  the  Imperial  War  Cabinet,  in  a 
message  to  the  American  people,  said : 

"The  Imperial  War  Cabinet,  representing  all  the  peoples 
and  all  the  nations  of  the  British  Empire,  wish  me,  in  its  behalf, 
to  recognize  the  chivalry  and  courage  which  calls  the  people 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  361 

of  the  United  States  to  dedicate  the  whole  of  their  resources 
and  service  to  the  greatest  cause  that  ever  engaged  human 
endeavor."  Two  phrases  in  the  President's  address,  he  said, 
would  "stand  out  forever  in  the  story  of  this  crusade" — that 
"the  world  must  be  saved  for  democracy,"  and  that  "the  menace 
to  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  'existence  of  autocratic  Govern- 
ments backed  by  organized  force  and  controlled  wholly  by  their 
will  and  not  by  the  will  of  their  people." 

Parliament  was  not  then  sitting;  but  when  it  met  on 
April  17  the  House  of  Commons,  amid  cheers,  and  with  but 
one  dissenting  vote,  that  of  an  (Independent  Irish  Nationalist, 
resolved : 

"This  House  desires  to  express  to  the  Government  and 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America  their  profound  apprecia- 
tion of  the  action  of  their  Government  in  joining  the  allied 
Powers,  and  thus  defending  the  high  cause  of  freedom  and 
rights  of  humanity  against  the  gravest  menace  by  which  they 
have  ever  been  faced." 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  moving  the  resolution, 
deeply  regretted  "that  the  Premier  is  unable  to  be  present  him- 
self to  move  the  resolution.  Not  only  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, but  all  the  people  of  the  British  Empire  and  the  allied 
countries  welcome  the  new  Ally  with  heartfelt  sympathy.  This 
is  not  only  the  greatest  event,  but,  as  I  believe,  the  turning 
point  of  the  war.  The  new  world  has  been  brought  in,  or  has 
stepped  in,  to  restore  the  balance  in  the  old.  Being  in,  the 
United  States  has  already  shown  that  her  enemies  must  be- 
ware of  her.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  path  immediately  before 
us  is  more  difficult  than  ever  before,  I  venture  to  express  the 
hope  and  belief  that  a  change  is  coming;  that  the  long  night 
of  sorrow  and  anguish  which  has  desolated  the  world  is  draw- 
ing to  a  close." 

Mr.  Asquith  seconded  the  resolution,  and  said: 

"It  is  only  right  and  fitting  that  this  House,  the  chief  rep- 
resentative body  of  the  British  Empire,  should,  at  the  earliest 
possible  opportunity,  give  definite  and  emphatic  expression  to 
the  feelings  which  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
Empire  have  grown  day  by  day  in  volume  and  fervor  since  the 
memorable  decision  of  the  President  and  Congress  of  the 


36£     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

United  States.  I  doubt  whether  even  now  the  world  realizes 
the  full  significance  of  the  step  America  has  taken.  I  do  not 
use  language  of  flattery  or  exaggeration  when  I  say  it  is  one 
of  the  most  disinterested  acts  in  history." 

Sir  Alfred  Mond  announced  that  the  Government  had 
given  instructions  that  on  Friday,  April  20,  the  day  set  apart 
to  mark,  with  suitable  ceremony,  the  entrance  of  the  United 
States  into  the  war,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  should  be  flown, 
beside  the  Union  Jack,  on  as  many  public  buildings  as 
possible. 

When  that  day,  "American  Day,"  it  was  fittingly  called, 
came,  bright  and  clear,  the  good  people  of  London  beheld  such 
sights  as  never  before  had  been  seen  by  man.  From  the  Vic- 
toria Tower  of  the  House  of  Parliament,  over  which  until  that 
day  the  flag  of  no  foreign  nation  had  ever  been  raised,  they  saw 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  the  Union  Jack  flying  in  unison 
from  the  same  staff.  Through  streets  richly  decked  with 
American  flags  and  lined  with  people  they  saw  the  King  and 
Queen  proceed  from  the  Palace  to  St.  Paul's  to  take  part  in 
"A  solemn  service  to  Almighty  God  on  the  occasion  of  the 
entry  of  the  United  States  of  America  into  the  great  war  of 
freedom." 

How  deeply  that  act  of  our  country  moved  the  thinking 
people  of  London  was  well  told  by  Hall  Caine  in  a  cable  to  the 
Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

American  Day  in  London  was  a  great  and  memorable  event.  It 
was  another  sentinel  on  the  hilltop  of  time,  another  beacon  fire  in 
the  history  of  humanity.  The  two  nations  of  Great  Britain  and 
America  can  never  be  divided  again.  There  has  been  a  national  mar- 
riage between  them  which  only  one  judge  can  dissolve,  and  the  name 
of  that  judge  is  death. 

Nature  herself  seemed  to  celebrate  the  nuptials.  The  morning 
broke  fine  with  the  breath  of  summer  and  the  smile  of  spring.  Never 
had  the  city  looked  so  bright  and  heartsome.  The  crisp  air  seemed 
to  crackle  under  the  thud  and  rumble  of  the  thoroughfares.  The 
Union  Jack  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  entwined  on  countless 
flagstaffs,  and  cordons  of  police  were  keeping  back  the  crowds  that 
lined  the  course  of  the  royal  procession. 

The  broad  circle  of  St.  Paul's  was  framed1  with  faces.  Rarely, 
if  ever,  has  our  old  gray  cathedral,  compassed  round  with  its  tides  of 
traffic,  seen  such  a  congregation.  It  was  a  solid  mass  of  people  from 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  363 

the  portico  to  the  altar  steps.  The  King  and  Queen  were  there  with 
the  beloved  Queen  Alexandra,  the  American  Ambassador,  the  Min- 
isters and  Ambassadors  of  the  Allied  nations,  our  leading  statesmen, 
soldiers  and  sailors  and  a  fair  representation  of  the  beauty  and  intel- 
lect of  the  nation.  .  .  . 

It  was  not  for  nothing  that  the  flags  of  Great  Britain  and  America 
hung  side  by  side  under  the  chancel  arch  on  Friday  morning.  At 
one  moment  the  sun  shot  through  the  windows  of  the  great  dome 
and  lit  them  up  with  heavenly  radiance.  Was  it  only  the  exaltation 
of  the  moment  that  made  us  think  the  invisible  powers  were  giving 
us  a  sign  that  in  the  union  of  the  nations  for  which  those  emblems 
stood  lay  the  surest  hope  of  a  day  when  men  will  beat  their  swords 
into  plowshares  and  know  war  no  more? 

The  United  States  of  Great  Britain  and  America!  God  grant 
that  the  union  celebrated  in  our  old  sanctuary  may  never  be  dis- 
solved until  that  great  day  has  dawned. 

From  the  Old  World  the  excitement  spread  to  the  New. 
April  10  Brazil  severed  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany 
and,  aroused  by  the  sinking  of  the  Brazilian  steamship  Parana 
without  warning  by  a  German  U-boat,  seized  forty-six  German 
vessels  in  her  waters. 

That  same  day  Argentina  announced  her  approval  of  the 
action  of  the  United  States.  The  posting  of  the  declaration  on 
the  bulletin  boards  in  Buenos  Aires  caused  a  great  excitement, 
pro-ally  demonstrations  were  made,  and  on  the  fourteenth  the 
German  consulate  and  the  offices  of  several  pro-German  news- 
papers were  attacked  by  the  people. 

Chili  declared  she  would  remain  neutral.  Bolivia  severed 
relations  with  Germany  on  April  13 ;  Paraguay  expressed  her 
sympathy  for  the  United  States;  Uruguay  would  remain  neu- 
tral, but  recognized  the  justice  of  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States ;  Costa  Rica  "indorsed  the  course  of  President  Wilson" ; 
Panama  canceled  the  exequaturs  of  all  German  consuls  and 
approved  of  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  United  States ;  Cuba 
declared  war  against  Germany. 

Without  a  moment's  delay  Great  Britain  and  France  each 
prepared  to  send  a  high  commission  to  our  country  to  express 
the  thanks  and  gratitude  of  their  Governments,  and  discuss  the 
most  effective  way  of  cooperation. 

The  British  Mission,  headed  by  Arthur  J.  Balfour,  slipped 
out  of  England  secretly  on  April  11,  landed  at  Halifax  on  the 


364     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

twentieth,  crossed  to  St.  John  and  came  by  special  train  to  the 
little  town  of  McAdam  at  the  Canadian  end  of  the  Interna- 
tional Bridge.  A  special  train  brought  them  to  Vanceboro  on 
the  American  side,  where  they  were  received  by  the  Third 
Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  Rear-Admiral  Fletcher  and  Gen- 
eral Ward  and  escorted  to  Washington. 

M.  Viviani,  former  Premier  of  France,  headed  the  French 
Mission.  Accompanied  by  General  Joffre,  victor  of  the  Marne, 
and  a  host  of  distinguished  men,  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  a 
vessel  convoyed  by  French  ships  of  war  and  was  met  at  night, 
a  hundred  miles  at  sea,  by  a  flotilla  of  American  destroyers, 
reached  Hampton  Roads  April  24  and  was  carried  to  Washing- 
ton by  the  President's  yacht,  Mayflower. 

A  visit  was  made  to  the  tomb  of  Washington,  where  tributes 
were  made  by  M.  Viviani  and  Mr.  Balfour,  and  a  bronze  palm 
laid  on  the  tomb  by  General  Joffre  and  a  wreath  of  lilies  by 
Mr.  Balfour.  To  the  wreath  was  attached  the  words : 

"Dedicated  by  the  British  Mission  to  the  immortal  memory  of 
George  Washington,  soldier,  statesman,  patriot,  who  would  have 
rejoiced  to  see  the  country  of  which  he  was  by  birth  a  citizen  and 
the  country  his  genius  called  into  existence  fighting  side  by  side  to 
save  mankind  from  a  military  despotism." 

By  invitation  M.  Viviani  and  Marshal  Joffre  appeared 
before  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  were 
given  a  great  ovation  in  each.  Chicago  was  then  visited,  and 
St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  and  Springfield,  where  a  palm 
was  laid  on  the  tomb  of  Lincoln,  and  then  Philadelphia,  New 
York  and  Boston. 

While  the  French  Commissioners  were  making  their  tour, 
Mr.  Balfour  by  invitation  addressed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. Never  before  had  a  British  official  been  so  honored. 
May  11  they  reached  New  York  and  passed  through  streets 
lined  with  shouting  multitudes.  A  reception  at  the  City  Hall 
was  followed  on  May  12  by  a  dinner  tendered  by  the  Mayor's 
Reception  Committee  to  both  the  French  and  British  Com- 
missions. 

"I  have  not,"  said  Mr.  Balfour  in  his  after-dinner  speech, 
"come  here  authorized  by  my  Government  to  set  myself  up  or 


WE  ENTER  THE  WAR  365 

set  my  friends  up  as  instructors  of  the  great  American  people." 
It  might  be,  it  probably  was,  the  fact  that  there  were  certain 
mistakes  which  a  democracy  unprepared  for  war  might  make. 
"We  shall  be  happy  to  describe  these  mistakes  to  you,  if,  hap- 
pily, it  will  be  your  desire  to  learn  the  lesson  from  them." 

Such  was  the  purpose  of  the  missions,  and  this  purpose 
accomplished,  they  departed  as  secretly  as  they  came'  and 
reached  their  destinations  in  safety. 


CHAPTER 


THE    CALL,    TO    THE    COLORS 

THE  call  to  arms  found  our  country  ill  prepared  for  the 
great  work  which  lay  before  it.  Vast  sums  of  money  must  be 
raised.  A  great  army  must  be  gathered  and  trained.  Indus- 
tries must  be  mobilized.  A  peace-loving  people  must  be  aroused 
to  a  due  sense  of  the  meaning  of  their  entrance  into  the  world 
war. 

Not  a  moment  was  lost.  ~No  sooner  had  the  President 
signed  the  joint  resolution  declaring  that  a  state  of  war  had 
been  thrust  upon  us  than  the  news  was  sent  by  wireless  and  by 
telegraph  to  every  fort  and  army  post;  to  every  warship,  navy 
yard  and  naval  station  in  our  country  and  insular  possessions; 
and  to  our  Ambassadors,  Ministers  and  consuls  the  world  over. 
Every  German  vessel  in  our  ports  was  seized,  and  scores  of 
Germans,  leaders  in  plots,  were  arrested  in  New  York,  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco;  orders  went  out  for  the  immediate  mobili- 
zation of  the  navy,  and  the  taking  over  of  privately  owned 
motor  boats  and  yachts  already  enrolled  ;  the  naval  militia  and 
naval  reserve  were  called  to  the  colors,  and  the  work  of  enlist- 
ing was  taken  up  with  renewed  ardor. 

The  Council  of  National  Defense  and  its  Advisory  Commis- 
sion went  seriously  to  work.  Created  by  Act  of  Congress,  the 
Council  consisted  of  the  Secretaries  of  War,  Navy,  Interior, 
Agriculture,  Commerce,  Labor,  and  the  Advisory  Commission 
of  seven  men  drawn  from  civil  life,  and  put  in  charge,  one  of 
transportation,  another  of  munitions,  another  of  food,  cloth- 
ing and  supplies  in  general  ;  another  of  raw  materials,  minerals 
and  metals;  another  of  labor;  another  of  engineering;  another 
of  medicine,  surgery  and  sanitation. 

To  aid  them  in  their  work  there  at  once  sprang  up  a  host 
of  Boards  and  Committees,  each  to  play  a  special  part  in  the 
mobilization  of  our  resources  and  industries.  At  the  request 

366 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  367 

of  the  Council  the  presidents  of  the  great  railroads  met  and 
named  five  men  to  put  the  railroads  on  a  war  basis.  Mr. 
Hoover  was  invited  to  become  Chairman  of  a  Committee  on 
Food  Supply  and  Prices,  charged  with  the  duty  of  securing 
the  cooperation  of  all  food  distributing  agents,  preventing  if 
possible  speculation  and  waste  and  increasing  production  of 
food.  A  general  medical  board  of  physicians,  surgeons,  den- 
tists and  hygiene  and  sanitation  experts  was  appointed  to 
mobilize  the  medical  resources  of  the  country.  An  Economy 
Board  was  organized,  and  April  15  the  President  made  an 
appeal  to  the  people  to  increase  the  output  of  war  materials 
and  raise  food  in  abundance. 

We  must,  he  said,  not  only  supply  ourselves,  our  army  and 
our  navy  but  a  large  part  of  the  nations  with  whom  we  had 
made  common  cause.  We  must  build  ships  by  the  hundred 
"to  carry  to  the  other  side  of  the  seas,  submarines  or  no  sub- 
marines," whatever  would  be  needed  there,  but  which  Eng- 
land, France,  Italy,  Russia  could  not  spare  the  men,  materials 
or  machinery  to  make.  Our  industries,  therefore,  our  farms, 
mines,  shipyards,  factories  must  be  more  prolific,  more  eco- 
nomically managed  than  ever  before. 

To  the  farmers  he  urgently  appealed.  The  "supreme  need" 
of  our  own  country  and  of  our  Allies  was  "an  abundance  of 
supplies  and  especially  of  foodstuffs."  The  importance  of  a 
sufficient  food  supply  was  "superlative."  Without  it  "the 
whole  great  enterprise  upon  which  we  have  embarked"  would 
fail.  On  the  farmers  rested  "in  large  measure  the  fate  of  the 
war  and  the  fate  of  the  nations."  Might  the  nation  depend 
on  them  to  leave  nothing  undone  that  would  increase  the  yield 
of  their  land.  He  called  on  "young  men  and  old  alike,"  on 
"able-bodied  boys,"  to  "turn  in  hosts  to  the  farms."  Farmers 
in  the  South  were  urged  to  "plant  abundant  foodstuffs  as  well 
as  cotton";  middlemen  were  told  the  eyes  of  the  country  were 
on  them;  that  the  country  expected  them,  as  it  expected  all 
others,  to  "forego  unusual  profits,"  and  organize  to  hasten  ship- 
ments. Every  one  who  cultivated  a  garden  helped  "to  solve 
the  problem  of  feeding  the  nations."  Every  housewife  who 
practiced  strict  economy  put  herself  in  the  ranks  of  those  who 
served  the  nation. 


368     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

The  response  was  quick.  Thousands  of  young  men  and 
lads  left  the  universities,  the  colleges,  the  high  schools  and 
the  home  and  volunteered  for  work  on  the  farms  and  in  muni- 
tion plants  and  factories.  Vacant  lots  in  the  cities  were  turned 
into  little  gardens  with  children  for  cultivators.  The  front 
lawns  and  flower  beds  of  suburban  residences  were  plowed  and 
sown  with  every  sort  of  vegetable  seed  and  farmers,  the  land 
over,  increased  the  acreage  of  corn  and  wheat,  and  potatoes. 

The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  declared  the  problem  was  not 
how  to  secure  more  acreage,  but  how  to  obtain  more  labor.  In 
the  cities  and  towns  there  were  more  than  2,000,000  boys  from 
fifteen  to  nineteen  years  of  age  not  engaged  in  work  vital  to 
the  nation.  These  should  be  used.  High  schools  and  colleges 
in  rural  districts,  he  thought,  should  suspend  their  work  and 
resume  later  than  usual  in  the  autumn,  that  the  students  might 
go  to  the  farms.  Industrial  plants  should  do  their  repair  work 
during  the  harvest,  and  certain  public  and  private  undertakings 
of  lesser  importance  to  the  nation  should  shut  down  for  the 
time  being  and  so  set  free  additional  labor.  To  upwards  of 
two  thousand  Boy  Scouts,  gathered  on  the  plaza  before  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  in  Washington,  and  carrying  gar- 
den tools  of  all  sorts,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Agriculture 
said:  "Arm  yourselves  with  pick  and  hoe.  Till  every  scrap  of 
vacant  lawn.  Raise  tomatoes,  beans  and  peas,  and  you  will 
do  an  immeasurable  service  to  your  country,"  and  the  promise 
was  given  that  the  message  would  be  sent  to  all  Boy  Scout 
organizations  in  the  country.  The  day,  April  21,  had  been 
called  "National  Planting  Day"  and  the  boys  marched  to  a 
three  hundred  acre  plot  donated  by  the  Government  for  farm- 
ing purposes. 

In  New  York  City  a  mass  meeting  of  Boy  Scouts  received 
a  telegram  from  Mr.  Hoover  telling  them  that  "America  will 
have  to  feed  the  world  for  the  next  two  or  three  years,  even  if 
the  war  should  end  this  year,"  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  urged  them 
to  "start  a  garden  and  thereby  help  to  feed  the  soldiers."  The 
Governor  of  North  Carolina  appealed  to  the  County  Commis- 
sioners to  cultivate  every  idle  farm  and  use  every  chain  gang 
that  could  be  spared  from  roadmaking  to  plant  food  crops,  and 
three  thousand  women  and  girls,  enrolled  in  clubs,  pledged 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  369 

themselves  to  can  all  surplus  fruit  and  vegetables.  The  State 
Council  of  Defense  in  West  Virginia  took  up  the  question  how 
to  increase  the  food  supply.  In  Alabama  the  Superintendent 
of  Education  promised  to  release  all  boys  in  the  high  schools 
and  district  agricultural  schools  for  farm  work,  if  their  parents 
made  no  objection.  In  Detroit,  Mr.  Henry  Ford  promised  to 
release  a  thousand  men  from  his  motor  plant  to  go  on  the  farms, 
and  to  take  them  back  in  the  autumn.  In  Connecticut,  the 
State  Food  Committee  called  for  boys  to  work  on  the  farms. 
A  bulletin  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington 
urged  everybody  to  make  gardens.  "Somebody  has  to  raise 
everything  you  eat.  Do  your  share."  In  Philadelphia  the 
Bourse  and  the  Commercial  Exchange  organized  a  Farm  Work 
Enrollment  Bureau  to  mobilize  the  war-farmer  boys  for  work 
in  the  West.  A  Committee  of  men  of  prominence  living  in 
towns  near  Philadelphia  along  the  main  line  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  formed  the  Main  Line  Food  Supply  Depart- 
ment of  the  State  Committee  of  Public  Safety  and  called  for 
aid.  Their  purpose  was  to  cultivate  and  maintain  a  series  of 
Community  War  Gardens  on  all  unused  land  one  mile  north 
and  south  of  the  railroad  from  Merion  to  Villanova.  No  money 
was  wanted,  but  land  owners  were  asked  to  loan  unused  land 
in  quantities  from  one  to  twenty-five  acres ;  to  donate  labor  then 
in  their  employ;  to  loan  farm  implements  or  horses,  and  give 
fertilizers  and  seed,  potatoes,  beans  and  cabbage,  carrot,  turnip 
and  onion  seeds.  From  information  received,  the  Committee 
declared  the  need  of  cultivating  every  bit  of  unused  land  was 
more  than  urgent  if  the  shortage  of  food  sure  to  prevail  in 
the  autumn  and  winter  was  to  be  lessened.  Vegetables  raised 
in  this  way  were  to  be  sold  at  cost  to  the  people  of  their  towns. 
Not  a  cent  of  profit  would  be  taken.  Like  appeals  were  made 
by  Vacant  Lot  Associations,  Community  Gardeners'  Associa- 
tions, School  Garden  Associations,  and  scores  of  others.  Hun- 
dreds of  students  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  joined  the 
farm  and  industrial  volunteers.  It  was  the  same  everywhere. 
To  raise  food  was  not  enough.  Quite  as  important  was  the 
careful  use  of  it.  The  American  habit  of  wastefulness  must 
be  stopped,  and  this  Mr.  Hoover  sought  to  do  by  an  appeal  to 
the  women  of  the  country.  A  nation-wide  association,  the 


370     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

United  States  Food  Administration,  was  started  and  every 
woman  above  the  age  of  fifteen  was  asked  to  sign  a  card  and 
become  a  member.  On  the  card  were  a  few  simple  questions, 
and  a  pledge  which  bound  all  who  signed  to  "accept  member- 
ship in  the  United  States  Food  Administration,"  and  "carry 
out  the  directions  and  advice  of  the  Food  Administrator"  in  the 
conduct  "of  her  household"  in  so  far  as  "circumstances  will 
admit."  Each  member  was  then  told  what  to  do,  was  given  a 
card  to  hang  in  the  window,  and,  if  desired,  a  button.  The 
first  card,  issued  to  the  wife  of  the  President,  was  hung  in 
the  window  of  the  White  House  dining-room. 

In  Philadelphia  they  were  delivered  at  the  door  of  every 
occupied  house  by  the  police,  one  Monday  in  July,  and  gathered 
on  Wednesday.  Nobody  signed  unless  willing  to  do  so.  Those 
who  did  not  were  then  visited  by  members  of  the  women's 
clubs  and  organizations  and  the  object  of  the  card  explained. 

That  all  might  know  how  to  save  and  what  to  save,  Mr. 
Hoover  sent  out  a  food  card  to  be  hung  in  the  kitchens.  It 
called  for  the  use  of  less  wheat,  meat,  fats,  milk,  sugar  and 
fuel;  for  a  larger  use  of  fruit  and  vegetables;  for  the  canning 
or  drying  of  surplus  produce,  and  urged  all  to  buy  in  the 
neighborhood  and  save  the  cost  of  carriage  from  places  far 
away.  One  pound  of  wheat  saved  each  week  meant  150,000,000 
bushels  for  our  Allies.  This  would  help  them  "to  save  democ- 
racy." Sugar  was  scarce.  "We  use  to-day  three  times  as  much 
per  person  as  our  Allies.  If  every  one  in  America  saves  one 
ounce  of  sugar  daily,  it  means  1,100,000  tons  for  the  year." 
One-third  of  an  ounce  less  animal  fat  each  day  would  save 
375,000  tons  in  a  year.  Every  American  was  in  duty  bound 
not  to  eat  a  fourth  meal;  "preach  the  Gospel  of  the  clean 
plate" ;  buy  less,  serve  smaller  portions,  eat  less  cake  and  pas- 
try, less  meat  and  no  young  meat,  serve  no  wheat  bread  at  one 
meal  a  day,  and  "watch  out  for  the  wastes  in  the  community." 

The  first  step  on  the  part  of  the  Government  was  taken 
by  the  President.  Acting  under  authority  given  him  by  an 
Act  of  Congress,  he  forbade  the  export  of  a  long  list  of  articles 
to  any  of  fifty-six  countries  and  their  dependencies,  save  under 
licenses  obtained  from  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce.  The  purpose  of  the  Government,  he  said,  was  to 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  371 

better  the  food  conditions  which  had  arisen  and  were  likely  to 
arise  before  the  crops  were  harvested.  >In  liberating  any  sur- 
plus over  and  above  our  own  needs,  the  wants  of  nations  fight- 
ing against  Germany  and  her  Allies  would  be  first  considered. 
Neutrals  would  not  be  unduly  hampered;  but  the  Government 
must  be  assured  that  they  were  husbanding  their  own  resources, 
and  that  our  own  supplies  did  not  directly  or  indirectly  go  to 
feed  the  enemy.  Not  only  was  the  shipment  of  food  and  fodder 
to  be  restricted,  but  such  essentials  as  pig  iron,  steel,  bullets, 
arms,  ammunition  and  explosives.  The  ban  was  to  go  into 
effect  on  July  15. 

That  the  helpless  neutrals,  Denmark,  Holland,  Switzerland, 
would  suffer  was  to  be  expected,  but  for  this  Germany,  and  not 
the  United  States,  was  responsible.  A  comparison  of  our  ex- 
ports during  the  nine  months  ending  with  March,  1917,  with 
those  for  a  like  period  ending  with  March,  1913,  the  year  be- 
fore the  war,  showed  that  those  to  Denmark  had  nearly  trebled, 
those  to  Norway  had  increased  ninefold,  those  to  Sweden  four- 
fold and  those  to  Switzerland  twenty-fivefold.  This  did  not 
mean  that  everything  brought  from  our  country  was  sent  by 
these  neutrals  into  Germany.  Much  of  it  was,  and  the  rest 
went  to  make  up  the  depletion  of  their  own  products  caused 
by  shipments  to  Germany.  Sweden  in  times  of  peace  was  a 
large  exporter  of  iron  ore,  but  she  was  now  selling  to  Germany 
each  year  more  than  she  had  ever  before  sold  to  all  the  world, 
and  to  replace  her  depleted  stock  was  importing  ore  from  the 
United  States.  Assurances  from  these  neutrals  that  they  would 
not  send  to  Germany  wheat,  grain,  copper,  war  supplies  of  any 
kind,  bought  from  us,  meant  little  if  what  they  bought  was 
merely  to  replace  their  own  products  sold  to  our  enemy.  This 
was  the  source  of  supply  our  duty  to  our  Allies  and  ourselves 
required  we  should  stop. 

A  Danish  journal  did  not  believe  that  the  contest  for  liberty 
and  democracy  would  be  fought  with  weapons  which  would 
mortally  wound  small  nations.  Before  the  war  President  Wil- 
son had  again  and  again  upheld  the  right  of  neutrals  to  carry 
on  trade  with  one  of  the  belligerents.  Before  the  war  American 
goods  in  large  quantities  went  through  Denmark  to  Germany. 


Indeed,  it  was  to  defend  the  neutral  commercial  rights  of 
America  that  the  United  States  declared  war. 

A  German  journal  called  the  embargo  a  brutal  assault 
against  little  neutrals.  In  France  the  embargo  was  hailed  as 
one  of  the  decisive  acts  of  the  war.  The  Allies,  despite  the 
vigilance  of  their  navies,  had  failed  to  make  the  blockade  tight. 
A  new  measure  was  needed.  This  the  United  States  had  fur- 
nished by  forbidding  indirect  aid  to  the  enemy.  From  Norway 
came  a  special  commission,  headed  by  the  Arctic  explorer 
Nansen,  to  remonstrate.  Norway,  he  said,  ,was  dependent  on 
the  United  States  for  supplies.  In  times  of  peace  she  bought 
from  Germany  sugar,  grain  and  fats;  but  now  she  must  get 
them  from  America.  She  was  in  great  need  of  iron  and  grain. 
The  harvest  would  be  poor  and  little  could  be  expected  from 
the  crop. 

When  the  new  minister  from  Switzerland  arrived  there 
accompanied  him  a  commission  to  present  the  needs  of  that 
country  as  to  food.  She  raised  but  twenty  per  cent,  of  her 
food  supply,  and  besides  her  own  population  must  feed  thou- 
sands of  interned  people  from  neighboring  countries.  After 
some  negotiation  with  Norway  an  agreement  was  reached  by 
which  she  promised,  if  allowed  to  buy  forty-seven  thousand  tons 
of  cereals,  to  give  up  thirty-six  thousand  tons  of  wheat  and  rye 
for  the  benefit  of  Belgium.  The  rest,  eleven  thousand  tons  of 
barley,  she  was  to  keep.  Germany  had  sunk  seventeen  of 
twenty-three  Belgium  Belief  Commission  ships,  and  it  was  to 
replace  this  loss  that  the  thirty-six  thousand  tons  were  to  be 
given  up  at  cost  and  taken  to  Belgium  in  vessels  Norway  had 
chartered  to  carry  foodstuffs  home. 

A  like  agreement  was  tentatively  made  with  Holland  for 
the  loading  of  some  thirty  of  her  ships,  provided  the  larger 
part  of  their  cargoes  was  given  to  Belgium.  But  the  Exports 
Council  would  not  consent,  and  it  was  soon  announced  that  no 
ships  with  American  wheat  would  be  allowed  to  sail  to  the  ports 
of  any  northern  neutrals  before  the  first  of  December.  The 
Netherlands,  despite  its  protest,  it  was  said,  had  wheat  and 
grain  enough  for  her  population  until  that  time. 

The  embargo  proclamation  was  scarce  forty-eight  hours  old 
when  the  President  appealed  for  unselfishness  in  war  prices. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  373 

The  Government  was  about  to  fix  the  prices  it  was  willing  to 
pay  for  supplies  needed  for  the  war.  A  fair  price  would  be 
paid.  By  a  fair  price  was  meant  such  as  would  keep  the  indus- 
tries concerned  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency,  provide  good  wages 
and  make  possible  such  additions  to  the  plants  as  war  needs 
made  necessary.  The  acceptance  of  such  prices  as  the  Govern- 
ment would  pay  must  not  be  put  on  the  ground  of  patriotism. 
At  a  time  when  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  young  men  were 
going  across  the  sea  to  fight,  no  true  man  who  stayed  home  to 
work  for  them  would  ask  himself  how  much  he  was  going  to 
make.  No  true  patriot  would  take  toll  of  their  heroism,  or 
seek  to  grow  rich  by  the  shedding  of  their  blood.  The  Presi- 
dent had  heard  it  said  that  more  than  a  just  price,  more  than 
was  needed  to  sustain  the  industries,  must  be  paid ;  that  it  was 
necessary  to  pay  very  generously  in  order  to  stimulate  produc- 
tion; that  nothing  but  rewards  paid  in  money  would  do  this. 
Do  you  who  say  so  mean  "that  you  must  be  paid,  must  be  bribed 
to  make  your  contribution,  a  contribution  that  costs  you  neither 
a  drop  of  blood  nor  a  tear,  when  the  whole  world  is  in  travail 
and  men  everywhere  depend  upon  and  call  to  you  to  bring  them 
out  of  bondage  and  make  the  world  a  fit  place  to  live  in  again 
amidst  peace  and  justice?"  He  could  not  believe  that  men 
"living  in  easy  peaceful  fashion"  would  exact  a  price,  drive  a 
bargain  with  the  men  who  were  enduring  the  dangers  of  the 
war  on  the  battlefields,  in  the  trenches,  on  the  sea. 

Did  the  ship  owners,  the  ocean  carriers  realize  what  obsta- 
cles they  had  put  in  the  way  of  a  successful  carrying  on  of  the 
war  ?  They  were  doing  everything  that  high  freight  rates  could 
do  to  make  the  war  a  failure,  to  defeat  the  armies  fighting 
against  Germany.  When  they  realized  this  he  was  sure  they 
would  reconsider  the  matter.  It  was  high  time.  But  there  was 
something  else  to  be  considered;  the  whole  people  were  mob- 
ilized to  finish  the  nation's  task  in  the  war,  and  under  these 
conditions  it  was  not  possible  to  distinguish  between  industrial 
purchases  made  by  the  Government  and  those  made  by  individ- 
uals. Prices  to  the  public  must  be  made  the  same  as  prices 
to  the  Government. 

His  next  appeal  was  to  the  housewives.  Increased  produc- 
tion, to  which  the  farmers  had  responded  so  patriotically,  was 


37A     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

but  a  part  of  the  solution  of  the  food  problem,  he  said.  What 
was  raised  must  be  cared  for,  and  saved.  Every  bushel  of  pota- 
toes stored,  every  pound  of  vegetables  put  up  for  future  use, 
every  jar  of  fruit  preserved,  would  help  to  win  victory  and  end 
the  war.  We  must  use  food  grown  locally  and  so  lessen  the 
pressure  on  the  railroads  and  leave  them  free  to  carry  things 
necessary  for  military  purposes.  Food  we  did  not  need  at  once 
must  be  conserved. 

The  letter  was  addressed  to  the  National  Volunteer  Com- 
mittee on  the  Preservation  of  Fruit  and  Garden  Products,  rep- 
resenting twenty-four  states;  was  issued  by  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  with  whom  the  Committee  worked;  and  was  in 
reply  to  the  question,  "How  May  Housewives  Immediately 
Start  Canning,  Preserving,  Pickling,  Drying  and  Preserving?" 

Information  on  these  matters  was  so  eagerly  sought  that 
the  "National  Emergency  Food  Garden  Commission,"  working 
with  the  Conservation  Department  of  the  American  Forestry 
Association,  issued  a  "Home  Garden  Primer,"  a  "Home  Can- 
ning," and  a  "Home  Drying  Manual  for  Vegetables  and 
Fruits,"  giving  full  instructions.  To  save  fruits  and  vege- 
tables by  canning  was,  this  year,  a  patriotic  duty. 

Congress  while  the  people  were  plowing  and  planting,  vol- 
unteering for  farm  work  and  pledging  themselves  to  save  food 
and  stop  waste,  was  busy  with  a  Food  Control  Bill.  As  passed 
by  the  Senate,  July  21,  1917,  the  President  was  empowered 
to  appoint  a  board  of  three  commissioners,  one  of  whom  must 
be  a  farmer  actually  engaged  in  raising  food,  to  perform  such 
duties  as  the  President  might  direct.  To  destroy  any  neces- 
saries in  order  to  enhance  their  price,  to  hoard,  monopolize, 
waste,  willfully  allow  deterioration  in  their  production  or  manu- 
facture, charge  an  unfair  price,  conspire  to  limit  the  carrying, 
harvesting,  storing  or  making  in  order  to  enhance  their  price 
was  a  misdemeanor  punishable  with  imprisonment  for  two 
years,  or  a  fine  of  $10,000,  or  both. 

Foods,  feeds,  fuel,  supplies  of  any  kind  needed  for  the 
army,  the  navy,  the  common  defense,  might  be  seized  and  a 
just  price  paid,  and  so  might  any  factory,  mine,  packing  house, 
or  plant.  That  he  might  guarantee  fair  prices  to  producer 
and  consumer  the  President  might  buy,  store,  and  sell  for  cash 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  375 

at  reasonable  prices,  fuel,  wheat,  flour,  meal,  beans  and  pota- 
toes, and  if  he  found  that  dealings  in  futures  unduly  raised 
the  price  of  wheat  and  food  cereals,  he  might  close  the  grain 
exchanges  and  declare  such  trading  unlawful.  Thirty  days 
after  the  passage  of  the  act  no  foods,  fruits,  food  materials,  or 
feeds  were  to  be  used  in  making  distilled  liquors  save  for  Gov- 
ernment use;  importation  of  such  liquors  was  to  cease,  and 
liquor  in  hand  was  to  be  taken  over  by  the  Government.  The 
prices  of  coal  and  coke,  wherever  and  whenever  sold,  either  by 
producer  or  dealer,  might  be  fixed;  the  carrying,  distribution 
and  allotment  among  merchants  and  consumers  regulated ;  and 
if  necessary  the  mines  and  yards  of  dealers  seized  and  oper- 
ated. One  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  were  appropriated 
for  the  purposes  of  the  act.  Whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
President,  it  became  necessary,  he  might  require  any  person 
or  corporation,  operating  a  grain  elevator,  a  cold  storage  estab- 
lishment for  the  storage  of  meat,  poultry  or  dairy  products,  a 
packing  house  producing  meat  or  meat  products,  a  factory  mak- 
ing farm  implements  or  machinery,  the  operator  of  a  coal  mine, 
or  person  making,  handling,  or  storing  fertilizers  to  take  out 
a  license,  provided  the  articles  made  or  stored  formed  "a  part 
of  interstate  or  foreign  commerce." 

Finally,  there  was  to  be  a  committee,  composed  of  five 
senators  and  five  representatives,  to  be  called  "The  Joint  Com- 
mittee on  Expenditures  in  the  Conduct  of  the  War."  As  the 
name  implied,  it  was  to  keep  watch  over  the  use  made  of  all 
appropriations  by  Congress,  all  contracts  entered  into  by  officers 
of  the  executive  departments,  bearing  on  the  conduct  of  the 
war.  It  was  to  advise  and  confer  with  the  President,  the  heads 
of  all  executive  departments,  commissions,  voluntary  boards 
and  organizations  connected  with  the  conduct  of  the  war,  might 
send  for  persons  and  papers,  administer  oaths,  and  compel 
attendance. 

To  the  bill  in  this  form  the  President  was  strongly  opposed. 
He  disliked  the  board  of  three  commissioners.  He  would  have 
but  one  commissioner,  and  that  one,  Mr.  Hoover.  He  was 
opposed  to  the  Joint  Committee  on  the  Expenditures  and,  while 
the  bill  was  in  conference,  stated  his  objections  in  a  letter  to 
the  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Agriculture.  Not 


376     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

only  was  Section  23  which  created  the  Committee  "entirely 
foreign  to  the  subject-matter  of  the  food  administration  bill," 
but,  if  made  a  law,  it  would  amount  to  the  taking  over  by 
Congress  of  work  of  Administration  and  render  his  task  of 
conducting  the  war  impossible^  A  like  "committee  on  the 
conduct  of  the  war"  had  been  created  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  had  been  "the  cause  of  constant  and 
distressing  harassment." 

Before  the  bill  passed  both  these  objectionable  features 
were  stricken  out,  and  Mr.  Hoover  was  appointed  what  the 
newspapers  called  "Food  Dictator."  Not  a  moment  was  lost 
in  putting  the  law  in  operation.  Notice  was  at  once  served  on 
speculators  and  "profiteers"  that  the  day  of  reckoning  had  come 
for  all  who  would  not  join  in  the  effort  to  secure  lower  prices 
for  the  consumer  and  food  for  our  Allies. 

"If  necessary,"  said  Mr.  Hoover,  "we  shall  not  hesitate  to 
apply  to  the  full  the  drastic,  coercive  powers  that  Congress  has 
conferred  upon  us"  by  the  act.  It  was  not  his  intention  "to  pro- 
ceed with  a  host  of  punitive  measures,"  but  by  working  with 
the  various  trades,  make  gambling,  extortion,  and  wasteful 
practices  impossible.  A  deep  obligation  rested  on  us  to  feed 
the  armies  and  the  peoples  joined  with  us  in  this  struggle. 
The  turning  of  forty  millions  of  their  men  from  peaceful  pur- 
suits to  war  and  war  work,  the  drafting  of  millions  of  women 
to  take  the  places  of  husbands  and  brothers,  the  toll  of  the  sub- 
marine had  so  cut  down  production  that  their  harvests  would 
fall  five  hundred  million  bushels  of  grain  below  the  usual  yield. 
No  market  but  ours  could  relieve  their  pressing  needs.  Despite 
our  own  short  crop  we  must  send  them  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  million  bushels.  We  must  stop  all  waste,  cut  down  con- 
sumption and  use  other  food,  such  as  fish,  corn,  cereals.  Every 
ounce  wasted  was  a  contribution  to  starvation.  There  was  no 
royal  road  to  saving.  Nothing  but  the  cooperation  of  the 
twenty  million  kitchens  and  twenty  million  dining  tables  in 
our  country  would  answer. 

First  to  be  regulated  were  the  prices  of  wheat,  flour  and 
bread.  To  stop  speculation  in  wheat  and  flour  it  was  now 
announced  that  on  the  first  of  September  all  elevators,  and  flour 
mills  turning  out  one  hundred  and  more  barrels  of  flour  each 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  377 

day  must  take  out  licenses;  that  no  wheat  could  be  stored  for 
more  than  thirty  days ;  that  grain  exchanges  would  be  asked  to 
stop  dealing  in  futures,  and  that  a  committee  would  be  ap- 
pointed to  fix  a  fair  price  for  wheat. 

In  Massachusetts  a  "wheatless  week,"  during  which  no 
white  bread  was  to  be  served  in  hotels,  restaurants,  or  homes, 
saved,  the  State  Food  Administrator  estimated,  twenty-five 
thousand  barrels  of  flour.  In  Chicago  all  dealings  in  futures 
ceased.  Actual  wheat  for  delivery  was  then  selling  at  $2.40  to 
$2.60  a  bushel.  What  price  the  Food  Administrator  would  fix 
was  yet  to  be  determined. 

From  the  Department  of  War  now  came  the  announcement 
that  an  expeditionary  force  of  "approximately  one  division  of 
regular  troops,"  commanded  by  Major  General  John  J.  Persh- 
ing,  had  been  ordered  to  go  to  France  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
that  the  General  and  his  staff  would  precede  the  troops.  The 
offer  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  to  raise  a  volunteer  force  and  take 
them  to  France,  the  President  said,  could  not  at  present  be 
accepted. 

"I  shall  not  avail  myself,  at  any  rate,  at  the  present  stage 
of  the  war,  of  the  authorization  conferred  by  the  act  to 
organized  volunteer  divisions.  To  do  so  would  seriously  inter- 
fere with  the  carrying  out  of  the  chief  and  most  immediately 
important  purpose  contemplated  by  this  legislation,  the  prompt 
creation  and  early  use  of  an  effective  army,  and  would  con- 
tribute virtually  nothing  to  the  effective  strength  of  the  armies 
now  engaged  against  Germany. 

"I  understand  that  the  section  of  this  act  which  authorizes 
the  creation  of  volunteer  divisions,  in  addition  to  the  draft, 
was  added  with  a  view  to  providing  an  independent  command 
for  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  giving  the  military  authority  an  oppor- 
tunity to  use  his  fine  vigor  and  enthusiasm  in  recruiting  the 
forces  now  at  the  western  front. 

It  would  be  very  agreeable  to  me  to  pay  Mr.  Roosevelt  this  com- 
pliment and  the  Allies  the  compliment  of  sending  to  their  aid  one 
of  our  most  distinguished  public  men,  an  ex-President,  who  has  ren- 
dered many  conspicuous  public  services  and  proved  his  gallantry  in 
many  striking  ways.  Politically,  too,  it  would  no  doubt  have  a  very 
fine  effect  and  make  a  profound  impression.  But  this  is  not  the 


378     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

time  or  the  occasion  for  compliment  or  for  any  action  not  calculated 
to  contribute  to  the  immediate  success  of  the  war.  The  business  now 
in  hand  is  undramatic,  practical,  and  of  scientific  definiteness  and 
precision.  I  shall  act  with  regard  to  it  at  every  step  and  in  every 
particular  under  expert  and  professional  advice  from  both  sides  of 
the  water. 

That  advice  is  that  the  men  most  needed  are  men  of  the  ages 
contemplated  in  the  draft  provision  of  the  present  bill,  not  men  of 
the  age  and  sort  contemplated  in  the  section  which  authorizes  the 
formation  of  volunteer  units,  and  that  for  the  preliminary  training 
of  the  men  who  are  to  be  drafted  we  shall  need  all  of  our  experienced 
officers.  Mr.  Roosevelt  told  me  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him 
a  few  weeks  ago  that  he  would  wish  to  have  associated  with  him  some 
of  the  most  effective  officers  of  the  regular  army.  He  named  many  of 
those  whom  he  would  desire  to  have  designated  for  the  service,  and 
they  were  men  who  cannot  possibly  be  spared  from  the  too  small  force 
of  officers  at  our  command  for  the  much  more  pressing  and  necessary 
duty  of  training  regular  troops  to  be  put  into  the  field  in  France 
and  Belgium  as  fast  as  they  can  be  got  ready. 

The  first  troops  sent  to  France  will  be  taken  from  the  present 
forces  of  the  regular  army,  and  will  be  under  the  command  of  trained 
soldiers  only. 

The  responsibility  for  the  successful  conduct  of  our  own  part 
in  this  great  war  rests  upon  me.  I  could  not  escape  it  if  I  would. 
I  am  too  much  interested  in  the  cause  we  are  fighting  for  to  be  inter- 
ested in  anything  but  success.  The  issues  involved  are  too  immense 
for  me  to  take  into  consideration  anything  except  the  best,  most 
effective,  most  immediate  means  of  military  action.  What  these 
means  are  I  know  from  the  mouths  of  men  who  have  seen  war  as  it  is 
now  conducted,  who  have  no  illusions  and  to  whom  the  whole  grim 
matter  is  a  matter  of  business.  I  shall  center  my  attention  upon  those 
means  and  let  everything  else  wait. 

I  should  be  deeply  to  blame  should  I  do  otherwise,  whatever  the 
argument  of  policy  for  a  personal  gratification  or  advantage. 

A  division  of  the  army  as  reorganized  for  the  war,  it  was 
announced,  would  consist — infantry,  artillery,  cavalry,  engi- 
neers, signal  battalion,  aero  squadron,  all  included — of  25,718 
men  and  officers.  Wagon  trains  and  motor  trains  would  raise 
this  number  to  28,334,  to  which  must  be  added  the  medical 
department  of  125  officers,  1,332  .enlisted  men  and  48  ambu- 
lances. 

Steps  to  mobilize  the  National  Guard  had  already  been 
taken.  Late  in  March  fourteen  units  of  the  Guard  were  called 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  379 

out  for  police  purposes  in  nine  Atlantic  States  l  and  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  and  sent  to  protect  railways,  bridges  and 
water  works.  Before  the  month  closed  twenty  regiments  and 
five  battalions  of  the  Guards  in  eighteen  States  from  Ohio  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  were  called;  the  muster  out  of  service  of  22,000 
guardsmen  who  had  been  on  the  Mexican  border  was  suspended, 
and  seven  more  regiments  called  out.  Thus,  by  April  1,  60,000 
guardsmen  out  of  a  total  of  150,000  were  under  arms. 

The  order,  on  April  6,  for  the  mobilization  of  the  navy 
found  it  35,000  men  short  of  the  87,000  authorized  by  law. 
But  to  put  it  on  a  war  footing  99,809  regulars  and  45,870  re- 
serves were  needed.  Of  these  73,817  regulars  and  25,219 
reserves  were  for  use  on  battleships,  scouts,  destroyers,  subma- 
rines and  training  ships;  10,633  regulars  and  17,195  reserves 
for  coast  defense,  and  10,318  regulars  and  2,080  reserves  for 
shore  stations. 

The  work  of  enlisting  began  at  once.  Every  possible  means 
of  securing  volunteers  was  used.  Attractive  cartoons  and 
posters  were  affixed  to  fences  and  displayed  in  shop  windows 
and  at  recruiting  stations.  Appealing  hand  bills  were  pasted 
across  the  fronts  and  sides  of  taxi-cabs,  motor  trucks  and 
wagons.  Movies  depicted  life  on  shipboard  and  in  camp. 
"Wake-up,  America,"  and  "Your  Country  Needs  You"  became 
familiar  forms  of  appeal. 

In  this  country-wide  effort  to  arouse  the  men,  the  women 
bore  a  conspicuous  part.  From  in  front  of  the  little  brown 
tents  scattered  over  every  part  of  the  great  cities  and  towns, 
from  platforms  in  halls  where  meetings  were  held  each  day,  and 
from  automobiles  drawn  up  at  street  corners,  they  pleaded  with 
the  men  to  heed  their  country's  call. 

Recruits  obtained  by  such  means  were  often  far  from 
satisfactory.  Some,  moved  it  may  be  by  shame,  gave  fictitious 
names  or  false  addresses  when  they  signed,  or  did  not  report 
at  the  place  to  which  they  were  directed.  Scores  of  those  who 
came  to  the  tents  and  recruiting  stations  failed  in  their  physi- 
cal examinations.  Some  were  under  weight.  Flat  feet,  nar- 
row chests,  bad  teeth,  defective  sight  or  hearing  caused  scores 

1  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland  and  Virginia. 


of  others  to  be  rejected.  Nevertheless,  stimulated  by  such 
appeals,  the  daily  enlistments  rose  rapidly  from  twenty-five  to 
a  thousand  a  day  for  the  navy,  and  to  1,434  a  day  for  the  army. 
By  the  end  of  July  more  than  1,000,000  men  had  offered,  and 
558,858  had  been  accepted.  Of  these  163,633  had  entered  the 
regular  army;  69,000  the  navy;  35,000  the  Officers'  Training 
Camp;  145,000  the  National  Guard. 

Congress  began  its  part  in  the  work  of  preparation  by  the 
passage  of  a  bill  providing  for  a  loan  of  seven  billion  dollars. 
Five  billions  were  to  be  in  bonds  bearing  three  and  a  half 
per  cent,  interest.  Two  billions  were  to  be  in  short-time  Treas- 
ury certificates  to  be  redeemed  with  money  gathered  by  new 
taxes.  Three  billions  of  the  loan  was  to  be  lent  to  the  Allies 
on  such  securities  as  the  President  approved. 

Early  in  May  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  announced  that 
the  first  offering  of  bonds  would  be  a  $2,000,000,000  three  and 
a  half  per  cent,  per  year  Liberty  Loan,  open  to  popular  sub- 
scriptions at  par;  that  the  denominations  would  be  so  small 
as  to  place  the  bonds  within  the  reach  of  people  of  very  mod- 
erate means,  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  the  offering  would  be 
oversubscribed.  The  twelve  Federal  Reserve  Banks  were  to 
act  as  agents,  each  in  its  own  district,  for  receiving  subscrip- 
tions; taking  care  of  the  details  of  delivery  of  the  bonds  and 
payment  of  the  subscriptions  in  such  manner  as  not  to  disar- 
range the  financial  situation.  But  subscriptions  were  to  be 
sought  by  all  banks,  trust  companies,  private  bankers  and  bor  J 
houses  the  country  over. 

Subscriptions  to  the  Liberty  Loan  came  pouring  in  at  once, 
from  financial  institutions  in  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  in 
every  part  of  the  world  over  which  our  flag  is  flown,  from  the 
Philippines,  from  Hawaii,  from  Porto  Rico,  and  from  Fair- 
banks in  Alaska.  In  forty-eight  hours  $311,657,000  of  the  loan 
was  taken,  and  two  days  later  $447,421,000.  It  was  then 
announced  that  the  bonds  would  be  redeemable  at  the  option 
of  the  Government  after  fifteen  years,  that  they  would  fall  due 
in  thirty  years,  that  two  per  cent,  must  be  paid  when  subscrip- 
tion was  made,  that  the  remainder  might  be  paid  in  four  in- 
stallments ;  that  the  lowest  denomination  would  be  $50  and  the 
highest  $100,000;  that  the  bonds  would  be  of  two  classes. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  381 

coupon  and  registered,   and   that   no   subscriptions  would  be 
received  after  June  15. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  now  appealed  by  letter  to 
the  heads  of  all  Government  departments  and  Governors  of  the 
States  to  aid  in  giving  the  widest  publicity  to  the  offering  of 
the  Liberty  Loan,  and  asked  them  "to  have  all  envelopes  and 
other  official  mail  containers  stamped  in  red  with  the  following 
lines,  'YOUR  PATRIOTIC  DUTY, — BUY  A  LIBERTY  LOAN  BOND.'  ' 
In  the  Philadelphia  Federal  Reserve  District,  National  and 
State  banks  and  trust  companies  agreed  to  send  circulars  and 
information  regarding  the  loan  to  each  one  of  their  depositors ; 
investment  bankers  were  to  do  the  same  with  their  customers, 
and  on  May  15  an  army  of  bond  salesmen  set  out  to  solicit 
subscriptions.  The  movies  were  called  on  to  aid,  flash  on  the 
screens  throughout  the  country  the  words,  "Buy  a  Bond,"  and 
prepare  one-reel  dramas  written  around  the  buy-a-bond  slogan. 
Private  bankers  through  advertisements  in  the  newspapers 
offered  their  services  to  subscribers  without  charge,  and  urged 
all  persons  to  buy.  Every  patriotic  American  was  expected  to 
subscribe  no  matter  how  small  the  sum.  The  loan  was  a 
sound  investment  for  savings.  It  was  not  a  tax  or  a  gift.  The 
Post-office  Department  stamped  every  piece  of  mail  with  the 
words :  "Do  Your  Bit.  Buy  a  Liberty  Loan  Bond.  (Inquire  at 
any  Bank  or  Post-office." 

An  appeal  issued  by  the  Philadelphia  Liberty  Loan  Com- 
mittee of  Bankers  read: 

"Which  do  you  choose — the  harvest  of  victory,  or  the  desolation 
of  defeat? 

"Will  you  submit  America  to  the  frightful  horrors  of  desolation, 
or  will  you  loan  your  money  to  guarantee  peace  and  freedom  for  the 
whole  world? 

"Will  you  suffer  the  stigma  of  giving  your  country  no  help  in  this 
world-wide  crisis,  when  you  can  loan  your  money  (not  have  it  taken 
from  you  by  the  soldiers'  brute  force,  mind  you)  and  be  paid  in  gold 
for  all  you  give? 

"Will  you  let  your  neighbors  point  at  you  with  scorn,  when  you 
can  so  easily  help  your  Government,  and  make  safe  your  property  and 
protect  your  family? 

"Kemember,  Germany  watches !  For  you  to  help  with  the  Liberty 
Loan  is  to  tell  Germany  that  Prussianism  must  go!  that  frightfulness 


382     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

must  end;  that  you  and  all  America  are  for  a  free  world  and  free 
people. 

"The  sooner  you  buy  your  bond,  the  sooner  you  end  the  war. 
Buy  to-day — it  is  the  prudent,  patriotic  thing  to  do  1" 

The  country  over  subscriptions  poured  in  from  social  clubs, 
business  men's  associations,  benevolent  associations,  manufac- 
turing companies  and  great  corporations;  from  employees 
of  manufacturing  concerns  of  every  sort,  of  department  stores, 
of  railroads,  of  cities;  from  school  teachers,  wage  earners  and 
from  the  governing  boards  of  church  organizations.  Many 
firms  and  corporations  offered  to  buy  bonds  for  their  employees 
and  hold  them  till  paid  for  gradually.  Daily  meetings  were 
held  in  the  theaters  and  appealing  speeches  made. 

As  the  last  day  for  subscription  drew  near  the  bell  in  the 
tower  on  Independence  Hall,  "The  Cradle  of  Liberty,"  Phila- 
delphia, was  tolled  each  night  at  nine  o'clock  as  a  "dirge  for 
slackers."  On  the  night  of  June  eleventh  the  bell  was  struck 
four  times  as  a  reminder  that  but  four  days  remained  in  which 
to  subscribe.  On  June  twelfth,  three  strokes,  on  the  thirteenth, 
two  strokes,  and  on  the  fourteenth,  one  stroke,  its  last  appeal, 
was  given.  In  many  of  the  churches  bells  were  rung.  And 
so  it  was  the  country  over,  for  by  request  from  Washington  the 
slacker  was  reminded  by  ten  thousand  bells  in  churches,  school 
houses,  court  houses,  public  buildings,  that  his  country  expected 
him  to  do  his  duty. 

At  the  close  of  the  business  day  of  June  thirteenth  the 
enormous  sum  of  $342,000,000  was  still  to  be  raised  and  forty- 
eight  hours  left  in  which  to  do  it.  These  hours  were  therefore 
marked  by  what  was  truly  called  "a  tremendous  eleventh-hour 
drive  throughout  the  country."  In  Philadelphia,  the  old 
Liberty  Bell,  the  bell  that  proclaimed  "liberty  throughout  the 
land"  when  its  joyful  ringing  greeted  the  reading  of  the  Dec- 
laration of  (Independence  in  the  State  House  Yard,  July  8, 
1776,  was  brought  from  its  case,  and  the  Mayor,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  crowd  of  invited  guests,  at  twelve  o'clock  noon, 
struck  it  thirteen  times,  one  stroke  for  each  of  the  thirteen  states 
that  founded  our  Kepublic.  From  the  Hall  the  sound  was 
carried  by  telephone  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 
Every  form  of  effort  was  redoubled,  young  men  with  mega- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  383 

phones  appealed  from  automobiles  to  passers-by  on  the  side- 
walk, subscriptions  were  taken  on  the  curb  stone,  huge  clocks 
showed  how  the  subscription  was  mounting;  railroads,  indus- 
trial corporations,  banks,  business  houses  subscribed  for  their 
employees,  on  the  installment  plan;  and  when  all  was  over  it 
appeared  that  more  than  four  million  persons  had  subscribed 
for  $3,035,226,850  of  the  loan.  The  Liberty  Loan  was  over- 
subscribed. Subscriptions  amounting  to  $17,000,000  had  been 
secured  by  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America  in  a  house  to  house  can- 
vass. 

While  the  campaign  for  the  Liberty  Loan  was  still  under 
way,  Congress  was  wrangling  over  the  details  of  a  bill  to  pro- 
vide a  great  army.  Well  aware  that  to  draw  two  million  men 
from  the  pursuits  of  civil  life  by  the  old  fashioned  method  of 
volunteering  would  be  too  slow  for  the  needs  of  the  Allies,  a  bill 
providing  for  a  selective  draft  was  framed  by  the  General  Staff, 
approved  by  the  President  and  laid  before  the  Military  Com- 
mittees of  the  Senate  and  House.  As  explained  by  the  Presi- 
dent the  force  necessary  to  meet  the  emergency  was  to  be  raised 

by  bringing  the  regular  army  and  the  National  Guard  to  war 
strength,  and  by  adding  the  additional  forces  which  will  now  be 
needed  so  that  the  national  army  will  comprise  three  elements,  the 
regular  army,  the  National  Guard  and  the  so-called  additional  forces, 
of  which  a  first  500,000  are  to  be  authorized  immediately  and  later 
increments  of  the  same  size  if  they  may  be  needed. 

In  order  that  all  these  forces  may  comprise  a  single  army,  the 
term  of  enlistment  in  the  three  is  equalized,  and  will  be  for  the  period 
of  the  emergency.  The  necessary  men  will  be  secured  for  the  regular 
army  and  the  National  Guard  by  volunteering,  as  at  present,  until, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  President,  a  resort  to  a  selective  draft  is 
desirable.  The  additional  forces,  however,  are  to  be  raised  by  selective 
draft  from  men  ranging  in  age  from  nineteen  to  twenty-five  years. 

The  quotas  of  the  several  States  in  all  of  these  forces  will  be  in 
proportion  to  their  population. 

This  legislation  makes  no  attempt  to  solve  the  question  of  a  per- 
manent military  policy  for  the  country,  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  in 
these  anxious  and  disordered  times  a  clear  view  cannot  be  had  either 
of  our  permanent  military  necessities  or  of  the  best  mode  of  organiz- 
ing a  proper  military  peace  establishment.  The  hope  of  the  world 
is  that  when  the  European  war  is  over  arrangements  will  have  been 
made  composing  any  of  the  questions  which  have  hitherto  seemed  to 
require  the  arming  of  tbe  nations,  and  that  in  some  ordered  and  just 


384     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

way  the  peace  of  the  world  may  be  maintained  by  such  cooperations  of 
force  among  the  great  nations  as  may  be  necessary  to  maintain  peace 
and  freedom  throughout  the  world.  When  these  arrangements  for  a 
permanent  peace  are  made  we  can  determine  our  military  needs  and 
adapt  our  course  of  military  preparation  to  the  genius  of  a  world 
organized  for  justice  and  democracy.  The  present  bill,  therefore, 
is  adapted  to  the  present  situation,  but  it  is  drawn  upon  such  lines 
as  will  enable  us  to  continue  its  policy  or  so  much  of  it  as  may  be 
determined  to  be  wise,  when  the  present  crisis  has  passed. 

But  what  would  be  its  fate  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
was  watched  with  the  deepest  interest.  The  minority  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  favored  a  draft:  but  from  the 
majority  came  a  bill  providing  that  the  army  should  be  raised 
by  calls  for  volunteers,  that  no  more  than  500,000  should  be 
called  for  at  a  time,  and  that  conscription  should  not  be  resorted 
to  unless  volunteers  failed  to  respond. 

This  compromise  the  President  made  known  lie  would  not 
accept.  "The  idea  of  the  selective  draft  is,"  he  said,  "that 
those  should  be  chosen  who  can  be  most  readily  spared  from  the 
prosecution  of  the  other  activities  which  the  country  must  en- 
gage in  and  to  which  it  must  devote  a  great  deal  of  its  best 
energy  and  capacity. 

"The  volunteer  system  does  not  do  this.  When  men  choose 
themselves  they  sometimes  choose  without  due 'regard  to  their 
other  responsibilities.  Men  may  come  from  the  farms  or  from 
the  mines,  or  from  the  factories  or  centers  of  business  who 
ought  not  to  come,  but  ought  to  stand  back  of  the  armies  in  the 
field."  The  principle  of  the  selective  draft  had  at  heart  "this 
idea:  that  there  is  a  universal  obligation  to  serve  and  that  a 
public  authority  should  choose  those  upon  whom  the  obligation 
of  military  service  shall  rest,  and  also  in  a  sense  choose  those 
who  shall  do  the  rest  of  the  nation's  work." 

In  the  House,  after  a  sharp  contest,  the  supporters  of  the 
volunteer  system  were  defeated,  and  a  bill  was  passed  embody- 
ing the  principle  of  the  President's  selective  draft.  The  Senate 
made  three  amendments  of  some  importance.  The  House  bill 
provided  for  drafting  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and 
forty  years  inclusive.  Members  were  opposed  to  waging  war 
with  young  men  only.  A  Senate  amendment  fixed  the  limits  at 
twenty-one  and  twenty-seven  years,  and  by  another  amend- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  385 

ment  authorized  the  President  to  regulate  the  sale  of  liquor 
both  in  and  near  training  camps  and  military  stations  and  if 
he  saw  fit  forbid  the  serving  of  liquor  to  officers  and  men  in  uni- 
form. A  third  amendment  provided  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
Koosevelt  volunteers:  the  House  believed  that  a  selective  serv- 
ice bill  should  not  provide  for  the  acceptance  of  volunteers. 

As  finally  passed  by  Congress  and  approved  by  the  Presi- 
dent the  act  gave  him  authority  to  raise  the  regular  army,  by 
enlistment,  to  287,000  men,  the  maximum  strength  provided 
by  existing  law;  to  draft  into  the  service  of  the  United  States 
all  members  of  the  National  Guard  and  the  National  Guard 
Reserve;  and  raise  by  selective  draft  an  additional  force  of 
500,000  men  or  so  much  as  he  might  deem  necessary,  and  an- 
other 500,000  at  his  discretion.  The  age  limits  for  drafted  men 
were  twenty-one  and  thirty  years  inclusive,  and  all  male  per- 
sons between  these  ages  were  required  to  register  "in  accordance 
with  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by  the  President,"  or  failing 
to  do  so  became  liable  to  imprisonment  for  one  year.  "The 
Vice-President  of  the  TJnitel  States;  the  officers,  legislative, 
executive  and  judicial,  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  several 
States,  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  regular  or 
duly  ordained  ministers  of  religion;  students  in  recognized 
schools  of  divinity  and  theology ;  all  persons  in  the  military  and 
naval  service  of  the  United  States;  members  of  sects  whose 
creeds  forbade  them  to  engage  in  war ;  county  and  municipal  of- 
ficials; custom  house  clerks,  those  engaged  in  the  transmission 
of  the  mails ;  artisans  and  workmen  in  armories,  arsenals,  navy 
yards;  pilots  and  mariners  actually  in  sea  service;  those  em- 
ployed in  industries  and  in  agriculture  necessary  to  the  opera- 
tions of  the  armed  forces ;  those  physically  or  mentally  deficient, 
and  those  on  whom  some  one  depended  for  support,  were  or 
might  be  exempt. 

The  signing  of  the  bill  was  immediately  followed  by  the 
signing  of  a  proclamation,  already  prepared,  which  fixed  June 
fifth  as  registration  day,  save  in  Alaska,  Hawaii  and  Porto 
Rico,  where  a  time  for  registration  would  be  named  later,  and 
closed  with  another  defense  of  the  selective  draft,  and  a  very 
proper  reminder  that  the  day  should  "be  approached  in  thought- 
ful apprehension  of  its  significance,  and  that  we  accord  to  it 


386     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  honor  and  the  meaning  that  it  deserves,"  and  that  those 
called  to  the  colors  were  not  the  only  ones  called  to  serve. 

The  power  against  which  we  are  arrayed  has  sought  to  impose  its 
will  upon  the  world  by  force.  To  this  end  it  has  increased  armament 
until  it  has  changed  the  face  of  war.  In  the  sense  in  which  we  have 
heen  wont  to  think  of  armies  there  are  no  armies  in  this  struggle. 
There  are  entire  nations  armed.  Thus,  the  men  who  remain  to  till 
the  soil  and  man  the  factories  are  no  less  a  part  of  the  army  that  is 
in  France  than  the  men  beneath  the  battle  flags.  It  must  be  so 
with  us.  It  is  not  an  army  that  we  must  shape  and  train  for  war,  it 
is  a  nation.  To  this  end  our  people  must  draw  close  in  one  compact 
front  against  a  common  foe.  But  this  cannot  be  if  each  man  pursues 
a  private  purpose.  All  must  pursue  one  purpose. 

The  nation  needs  all  men ;  but  it  needs  each  man,  not  in  the  field 
that  will  most  please  him,  but  in  the  endeavor  that  will  best  serve 
the  common  good.  Thus,  though  a  sharpshooter  pleases  to  operate  a 
triphammer  for  the  forging  of  great  guns  and  an  expert  machinist 
desires  to  march  with  the  flag,  the  nation  is  being  served  only  when 
the  sharpshooter  marches  and  the  machinist  remains  at  his  levers. 
The  whole  nation  must  be  a  team  in  which  each  man  shall  play  the 
part  for  which  he  is  best  fitted.  To  this  end  Congress  has  provided 
that  the  nation  shall  be  organized  for  war  by  selection  and  that 
each  man  shall  be  classified  for  service  in  the  place  to  which  it  shall 
best  serve  the  general  good  to  call  him. 

The  significance  of  this  cannot  be  overstated.  It  is  a  new  thing 
in  our  history  and  a  landmark  in  our  progress.  It  is  a  new  manner 
of  accepting  and  vitalizing  our  duty  to  give  ourselves  with  thoughtful 
devotion  to  the  common  purpose  of  us  all.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  con- 
scription of  the  unwilling ;  it  is,  rather,  selection  from  a  nation  which 
has  volunteered  in  mass.  It  is  no  more  a  choosing  of  those  who  shall 
march  with  the  colors  than  it  is  a  selection  of  those  who  shall  serve 
an  equally  necessary  and  devoted  purpose  in  the  industries  that 
lie  behind  the  battle  line. 

The  day  here  named  is  the  time  upon  which  all  shall  present  them- 
selves for  assignment  to  their  tasks.  It  is  for  that  reason  destined 
to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  moments  in  our 
history.  It  is  nothing  less  than  the  day  upon  which  the  manhood  of 
the  country  shall  step  forward  in  one  solid  rank  in  defense  of  the 
ideals  to  which  this  nation  is  consecrated.  It  is  important  to  those 
ideals,  no  less  than  to  the  pride  of  this  generation  in  manifesting  its 
devotion  to  them,  that  there  be  no  gaps  in  the  ranks. 

It  is  essential  that  the  day  be  approached  in  thoughtful  apprehen- 
sion of  its  significance,  and  that  we  accord  to  it  the  honor  and  the 
meaning  that  it  deserves.  Our  industrial  need  prescribed  that  it  be 
not  made  a  technical  holiday,  but  the  stern  sacrifice  that  is  before  us 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS         387 

urges  that  it  be  carried  in  all  our  hearts  as  a  great  day  of  patriotic 
devotion  and  obligation  when  the  duty  shall  lie  upon  every  man, 
whether  he  is  himself  to  be  registered  or  not,  to  see  to  it  that  the  name 
of  every  male  person  of  the  designated  ages  is  written  on  these  lists 
of  honor. 

As  the  day  drew  near  when  registration  would  take  place, 
anti-draft,  anti-war  demonstrations  were  made  by  Socialists  and 
slackers  who  marched  about  the  streets  of  the  great  cities  dis- 
tributing leaflets  and  carrying  banners.  In  Boston  a  band  of 
Socialists,  men  and  women,  with  red  flags  inscribed  "War  is 
hell — we  demand  peace";  "Liberty  bonds  are  a  mortgage  on 
labor";  "Who  stole  Panama?"  "Who  crushed  Haiti?"  "If  this 
is  a  popular  war,  why  conscription  ?"  when  marching  down  Tre- 
mont  Street  were  met  by  sailors,  marines  and  soldiers,  their 
flags  torn  from  them,  their  band  forced  to  play  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  and  their  meeting  on  the  Common  pre- 
vented. 

In  Philadelphia,  some  thirty  Socialists  led  by  a  German  set 
out  one  day  to  distribute  anti-draft  handbills.  A  conscript, 
said  the  bills,  is  little  better  than  a  convict.  He  is  deprived  of 
his  liberty  and  his  right  to  think  as  a  free  man.  In  a  demo- 
cratic country  each  man  has  a  right  to  say  whether  he  is  willing 
to  join  the  army.  Only  a  despot  can  force  his  subjects  to  fight. 
Conscription  belongs  to  a  bygone  age.  You  have  a  right  to  de- 
mand the  repeal  of  such  a  law.  Do  not  submit  to  intimidation. 
Scarcely  had  they  begun  their  work  when  a  crowd  gathered,  and 
some  fighting  ensued ;  but  the  Socialists  were  scattered  and  thir- 
teen arrested.  Determined  to  put  an  end  to  such  attacks  on  the 
Government,  a  raid  was  made  a  few  nights  later  on  the  rooms 
of  the  Young  People's  Socialistic  Society  where  a  secret  meet- 
ing was  under  way  and  some  forty-nine  slackers  and  anti- 
draft  agitators  and  a  quantity  of  anti-draft  documents  were 
captured. 

From  the  headquarters  of  the  Socialist  Party  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  leaflets  and  pamphlets  were  sent  broadcast  over  the  land, 
under  such  titles  as  "Down  with  Conscription";  "Down  with 
War."  "Every  man,"  said  one,  "who  is  determined  to  uphold 
the  dearest  rights  of  personal  liberty,  every  man  who  refuses  to 
become  a  victim  of  the  war  declared  by  the  Government  to  pro- 


388     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

tect  the  millions  loaned  the  Allies  by  the  capitalists  of  this 
country  should  refuse  to  register  for  conscription." 

A  Socialist  journal  in  Kansas  issued  an  envelope  on  the 
back  of  which  was  printed  a  violent  appeal,  containing  such  de- 
mands as :  "Let  those  who  want  great  victories  go  to  the  firing 
line  and  get  them."  "They  say,  war  is  Hell,  then  let  those  who 
want  Hell  go  to  Hell." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Socialist  party  in  Cleveland  it  was  re- 
solved that  the  draft  act  was  a  violation  of  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  that  it  proposed  "involuntary 
servitude";  that  all  members  of  the  party  be  urged  not  to 
register  for  the  draft,  and  pledged  moral  'and  financial  support 
to  all  who  refused  "to  become  the  victims  of  the  ruling  classes." 
Aroused  by  such  appeals  numbers  of  Socialists  failed  to  register. 
Numbers  of  others,  slackers  who  were  not  Socialists  and 
quite  likely  never  saw  one  of  their  leaflets,  did  the  same.  A 
search  was  made  for  such,  and  all  who  were  caught  were  forced 
to  register  or,  under  the  provisions  of  the  draft  act,  were  fined 
or  sent  to  prison  for  one  year. 

An  estimate  of  the  Census  Bureau  gave  the  number  of  men 
likely  to  be  registered  for  service  as  10,000,000.  When  the  re- 
turns were  received  it  was  found  that  9,586,508  had  been  en- 
rolled. 

The  drawing  of  the  625,000  young  men  to  form  the  first 
selective  army,  it  was  announced,  would  take  place  in  Washing- 
ton on  July  15.  The  serial  numbers  for  each  of  the  five  thou- 
sand districts  in  the  country  would  be  placed  in  a  wheel  and 
drawn  one  at  a  time  until  the  requisite  number  was  obtained. 
Each  number  drawn  would  apply  to  each  registration  district, 
so  five  thousand  men  would  be  drafted  at  a  time.  Thus,  if  num- 
ber 20  were  taken  from  the  wheel,  the  man  in  each  district  hold- 
ing that  number  would  be  selected  for  service  and  required  to 
appear  before  the  local  board  for  physical  examination,  or  for 
the  hearing  of  his  claim  to  exemption  if  any  he  had.  Before 
the  drawing  took  place  some  changes  were  made  in  the  plans, 
The  numbers  on  the  registration  cards  were  disregarded,  each 
man  was  given  a  new  "red  ink"  number  and  required  to  go  to 
the  headquarters  of  the  exemption  board  of  his  district  and  as- 
certain his  new  number.  Ten  thousand  five  hundred  of  these 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  389 

"red  ink"  numbers,  each  in  a  black  celluloid  capsule,  were 
thrown  in  a  huge  glass  bowl,  where  all  were  well  mixed,  and  on 
Friday,  July  20,  the  drawing  began.  The  Secretary  of  War, 
blindfolded,  drew  the  first  capsule,  handed  it  to  the  announcer, 
who  broke  it,  drew  out  the  paper,  said  "Number  258"  and  some 
man  in  each  of  the  4557  registration  districts  throughout  the 
United  States,  if  as  many  as  258  had  been  registered,  was  called 
to  the  colors.  This  number  when  thus  announced  was  taken 
down  by  three  tally  clerks,  was  written  on  a  huge  blackboard 
in  plain  view  of  every  one  in  the  room  and  telegraphed  to  every 
city,  town  and  hamlet  the  country  over.  The  Chairman  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  drew  the  second  num- 
ber; the  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Military  Af- 
fairs the  third;  and  the  ranking  minority  members  of  the  two 
committees  the  fourth  and  fifth. 

Moving  picture  machines  were  busy  while  these  early  num- 
bers were  being  drawn,  for  it  was  the  wish  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  that  the  scene  should  be  so  recorded  that  the  people 
might  see  for  themselves  in  what  manner  the  drawing  had  been 
conducted. 

By  the  people  the  result  was  watched  with  the  deepest  in- 
terest. In  the  cities,  towns  and  manufacturing  centers  business 
was  all  but  suspended.  All  day  long  and  until  far  into  the  night 
crowds  of  young  men  whose  lot  was  soon  to  be  made  known, 
lawyers,  clerks,  artisans,  laborers,  the  fathers,  mothers,  friends 
of  those  likely  to  be  drawn,  idle  spectators,  thronged  the  side- 
walks in  front  of  every  bulletin  board  whereon  the  numbers 
were  displayed.  During  sixteen  hours  and  a  half  the  drawing 
went  steadily  on  until  the  last  of  the  10,500  black  capsules  had 
been  taken  from  the  bowl,  and  1,374,000  young  men  had  been 
drafted  into  the  selective  army. 

When  the  time  came  for  drafted  men  to  appear  before  their 
local  boards  for  physical  examination,  bands  of  negroes,  In- 
dians and  tenant-farmers  in  Oklahoma  determined  not  to  be 
drafted,  organized  as  the  Working  Class  Union  and  the  Jones 
Family  and  spread  terror  over  three  counties.  Crops  were 
abandoned,  telegraph  wires  were  cut,  bridges  burned,  and  peace- 
ful citizens  forced  into  their  ranks.  Posses  sent  to  arrest  them 
found  only  women  and  children  in  their  homes.  As  a  warning 


390     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

to  them  and  to  resistants  everywhere  the  Provost  Marshal  Gen- 
eral issued  a  statement.  There  was,  he  said,  nothing  to  resist  as 
yet.  The  call  to  appear  before  the  examining  boards  was  to  af- 
ford an  opportunity  for  those  called  to  present  reasons  why 
they  should  not  be  ordered  for  military  duty.  Failure  to  ap- 
pear did  not  prevent  the  raising  of  the  army.  The  names  of 
those  who  did  not  come  were  automatically  posted,  and  auto- 
matically they  were  inducted  into  the  military  service  and 
made  subject  to  military  law,  and  the  swift  and  summary  pro- 
cedure of  court  martial.  Failure  to  report  for  duty  when  or- 
dered was  desertion,  and  desertion,  in  time  of  war,  was  a  cap- 
ital offense. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days  several  of  the  resisters  were 
killed  and  some  two  hundred  taken  prisoners  and  held  under  the 
charge  of  treason  against  the  United  States. 

Mobilization  of  the  young  men  drawn  for  selective  service 
began  in  September.  On  the  fifth  of  the  month  five  per  cent,  of 
the  white  men  enrolled  in  the  first  quota  of  the  National  Guard 
were  to  begin  their  journey  to  the  sixteen  instruction  camps 
scattered  over  the  country.  That  there  might  be  no  congestion 
on  the  railroads  they  were  to  go  in  five  daily  detachments  of 
equal  number,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  were  to  consist  of  men 
with  some  military  experience.  September  nineteenth,  forty 
per  cent  and  October  third,  another  forty  per  cent  were  to  set 
out,  and  the  remaining  fifteen  per  cent  were  to  go  as  soon  there- 
after as  possible. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  our  country  had  such  an  event 
occurred.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  men,  drawn  from 
every  walk  in  life,  physicians,  lawyers,  business  men,  clerks, 
laborers,  rich  and  poor  were  to  leave  their  homes  in  every  city, 
town  and  hamlet  the  country  over,  and  go  into  training  that 
they  might  be  made  fit  to  fight  on  European  soil  to  make  "the 
world  safe  for  democracy."  That  such  an  event  should  be 
marked  in  some  signal  manner  was  most  proper.  On  the  third 
of  September,  therefore,  the  President  addressed  to  them  this 
message : 

To  THE  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ARMY: 

You  are  undertaking  a  great  duty.     The  heart  of  the  whole  coun- 
try is  with  you. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  391 

Everything  that  you  do  will  be  watched  with  the  deepest  interest 
and  with  the  deepest  solicitude  not  only  by  those  who  are  near  and 
dear  to  you,  but  by  the  whole  nation  besides. 

For  this  great  war  draws  us  all  together,  makes  us  all  comrades 
and  brothers,  as  all  true  Americans  felt  themselves  to  be  when  we 
first  made  good  our  national  independence. 

The  eyes  of  the  world  will  be  upon  you,  because  you  are  in  some 
special  sense  the  soldiers  of  freedom.  Let  it  be  your  pride,  therefore, 
to  show  all  men  everywhere  not  only  what  good  soldiers  you  are,  but 
also  what  good  men  you  are,  keeping  yourselves  fit  and  straight  in 
everything  and  pure  and  clean  through  and  through. 

Let  us  set  for  ourselves  a  standard  so  high  that  it  will  be  a  glory 
to  live  up  to  it,  and  then  let  us  live  up  to  it  and  add  a  new  laurel  to 
the  crown  of  America. 

My  affectionate  confidence  goes  with  you  in  every  battle  and  every 
test.  God  keep  and  guide  you! 

In  Washington,  on  the  fourth  of  the  month,  the  men  drawn 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  for  the  new  army,  in  their  civilian 
clothes,  escorted  by  regulars,  marines,  national  guardsmen, 
marched  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  past  a  reviewing  stand 
before  the  White  House.  At  their  head  on  foot,  walked  the 
President,  the  Cabinet,  and  hundreds  of  members  of  the  Senate 
and  the  House,  a  visible  confirmation  of  the  words  of  the  Presi- 
dent "the  heart  of  the  whole  country  is  with  you." 

To  the  Chairman  of  the  Mayor's  Committee  of  National  De- 
fense in  New  York  the  President  wrote. 

Please  say  to  the  men  on  September  4  how  entirely  my  heart  is 
with  them  and  how  my  thoughts  will  follow  them  across  the  sea  with 
confidence  and  also  with  genuine  envy,  for  I  should  like  to  be  with 
them  on  the  field  and  in  the  trenches  where  the  real  and  final  battle 
for  the  independence  of  the  United  States  is  to  be  fought,  alongside 
the  other  peoples  of  the  world,  struggling  like  ourselves  to  make  an 
end  of  those  things  which  have  threatened  the  integrity  of  their  terri- 
tory, the  lives  of  their  people  and  the  very  character  and  independ- 
ence of  their  Governments.  Bid  them  Godspeed  for  me  from  a  very 
full  heart. 

At  the  head  of  marchers  was  the  Mayor,  and  behind  him  the 
Plattsburg  graduates  who  a  little  later  would  be  their  officers 
in  France.  A  banner  carried  by  one  division  of  the  drafted 
men  read  "Harlem  Hun  Hammerers,"  and  another  "From 
Harlem  to  France."  All  along  the  route  the  buildings  were  gay 


S92     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

with  flags  and  the  sidewalks  densely  packed  with  excited  and 
cheering  men  and  women. 

September  first  was  the  day  chosen  by  Philadelphia  to  give 
Godspeed  to  her  sons.  Sailors,  marines,  regulars,  Red  Cross 
and  coast  reserve  units  and  representatives  of  almost  every 
organization  in  the  city  formed  the  escort.  Bombs  were  ex- 
ploded from  the  roof  of  the  City  Hall,  hydroaeroplanes  from 
the  Navy  Yard  and  the  school  at  Essington  flew  over  the 
marchers;  aeroplanes  dropped  capsules  containing  the  message 
from  the  Mayor  to  the  friends  and  relatives  of  drafted  men. 
The  British  Recruiting  Station  was  represented;  fifty  Cana- 
dians wore  sleeve  bands  inscribed  "Comrades  in  Arms";  the 
Emergency  Aid  and  the  War  Emergency  Unit  had  six  floats  il- 
lustrating their  work;  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  sent  a 
French  locomotive  and  a  banner  inscribed  "Our  Energies  Are 
Concentrated  to  Help  Win  the  War" ;  the  Eddystone  Corpora- 
tion exhibited  shells  and  a  banner  bearing  the  words  "These 
shells  will  clear  the  way  for  the  United  States  boys  when  they  go 
over  the  top."  But  the  center  of  attraction  were  the  few  thou- 
sand boys  in  every  day  clothes,  the  first  of  the  city's  quota  to  be 
called  to  the  colors.  Without  arms,  without  uniforms,  keeping 
no  step,  they  brought  to  the  dense  crowd  before  which  they 
passed  a  far  stronger  realization  of  what  the  war  meant  to  our 
countrymen  than  did  the  highly  trained  and  finely  organized 
sailors,  regulars  and  marines. 

Though  wanting  in  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  displayed 
in  the  great  cities,  the  Godspeed  given  the  boys  in  the  little 
towns  was  not  the  less  sincere.  Nay,  it  may  well  be  it  was 
deeper  seated  for  the  good  people  of  the  small  communities  must 
have  realized  far  more  keenly  than  the  shouting  crowds  of  the 
cities,  that  some  of  the  young  men  they  had  seen  grow  up 
among  them  were  leaving  the  home  town  never  to  return. 

Pacifists,  Socialists,  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  anti- 
war, anti-conscription,  pro-German  organizations  of  all  sorts, 
meantime  were  busy  with  their  propaganda.  The  Philadelphia 
branch  of  "Conscientious  Objectors  to  War"  one  night  in  late 
August  attempted  to  hold  a  meeting  in  the  Arch  Street  Theater, 
to  hear  speeches  and  adopt  resolutions  asking  the  President  to 
unite  with  the  Pope  in  his  proposal  for  peace.  But  the  police 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  393' 

refused  a  permit,  blocked  the  doors,  and  as  the  crowd  was  be- 
ginning to  disperse  some  sailors  interfered  and  started  a  small 
riot.  Camden  was  then  chosen  for  the  meeting  but  there  too 
they  were  barred. 

Headquarters  of  the  Socialists  on  Arch  Street  were  now 
raided  and  thousands  of  leaflets  denouncing  the  draft  act  and 
calling  on  all  citizens  to  disregard  it,  were  seized  by  the  chief 
postal  inspector  and  the  Secretary  and  others  arrested.  Thou- 
sands of  anti-draft  leaflets,  it  was  charged,  had  been  sent  to  men 
in  the  training  camps  and  distributed  on  the  streets. 

The  People's  Council  of  America  for  Democracy  and  Peace 
had  been  called  to  meet  at  Minneapolis.  Its  purpose  was  un- 
derstood to  be  the  formation  of  a  political  party  which  should 
unite  all  the  anti-war  pro-German  organizations  which  had 
been  active  ever  since  the  war  began.  Minneapolis  was  selected, 
it  was  understood,  because  the  city  had  a  Socialist  Mayor,  be- 
cause Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  North  Dakota  had  large  Ger- 
man populations,  because  in  North  Dakota  was  the  home  of  the 
Farmers'  Non-Partisan  League,  openly  opposed  to  the  war 
policy  of  the  Government,  and  because  in  days  before  the  war 
the  Northwest  had  been  strongly  infected  with  pacificism. 
Among  its  leaders  and  organizers  were  men  well  known  as  ex- 
treme Socialists.  One  had  been  in  charge  of  the  Ford  peace 
party,  another  was  national  Secretary  of  the  Socialist  party, 
a  third  editor  of  the  Socialist  journal,  The  Masses. 

Whatever  the  purpose  of  the  meeting  the  Governor  of  Min- 
nesota was  determined  it  should  not  be  held,  and  issued  a  procla- 
mation forbidding  it  anywhere  in  the  State,  as  he  believed  the 
purpose  was  to  aid  the  enemies  of  the  United  States.  The 
Governor  of  North  Dakota  then  announced  he  would  give  the 
delegates  protection  should  they  assemble  in  that  State.  The 
Constitution,  he  said,  guaranteed  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of 
assembly,  freedom  of  the  press  and  of  petition,  and  they  were 
entitled  to  protection.  Fargo  was  then  thought  of  as  a  meeting 
place,  but  the  Attorney  General  promptly  announced  that  no 
meeting  would  be  allowed  at  Fargo.  Hudson,  Wisconsin,  was 
the  next  choice;  but  there  also  the  city  authorities  interfered. 
The  Mayor  of  Milwaukee  having  sent  assurances  that  "liberty 
of  speech  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  assemble  to  consult  for 


394     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

the  common  good,"  had  not  been  suspended  in  his  city,  and  hav- 
ing promised  a  welcome,  it  was  decided  to  go  there.  But,  when 
warned  that  the  meeting  would  be  resisted  with  violence  word 
was  sent  out  that  Washington  had  been  chosen.  Government 
of  the  District,  it  was  said,  was  in  the  hands  of  Congress.  A 
denial  of  the  right  of  the  People's  Council  to  meet  would  be  a 
denial  by  the  Government  and  not  by  "the  unpatriotic  caprice 
of  any  official."  If  no  building  could  be  obtained  the  plaza  be- 
fore the  Capitol  would  be  used.  The  police  of  Washington  an- 
nounced that  no  street  meetings  would  be  allowed. 

Nevertheless  a  meeting  of  the  Organization  Committee  was 
held  in  Chicago ;  but  it  had  not  been  long  in  session  when  the 
chief  of  police  appeared  and  ordered  it  to  disperse.  The  police 
were  acting  under  instructions  from  the  Governor  who  said  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  Governor  to  preserve  peace  in  the  State; 
that  if  in  his  opinion  disorder  and  riot  were  likely  to  result 
from  the  proposed  meeting  it  was  his  duty  and  he  had  the  power 
to  prevent  it ;  that  it  was  his  belief  that  the  real  purpose  of  the 
meeting  was  to  obstruct  the  Government  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  war,  and  was  likely  to  cause  disorder  and  rioting,  and  that 
no  such  meeting  therefore  should  be  held  in  Illinois.  Under 
assurance  of  police  protection  from  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  an- 
other meeting  was  held  the  next  day,  whereupon  the  Governor, 
notified  of  the  defiance  of  his  orders  by  the  Mayor,  sent  four 
companies  of  a  National  Guard  Regiment,  not  yet  taken  into 
Federal  service,  from  Springfield,  but  when  Chicago  was  reached 
the  meeting  had  adjourned. 

A  few  days  later  a  raid  was  made  on  the  headquarters  of  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World  in  a  score  of  cities,  and  books, 
papers,  records,  documents,  were  seized.  One  of  the  warrants 
charged  them  with  "willfully  causing  and  attempting  to  cause 
insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny  and  refusal  of  duty  in  the 
military  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,"  of  "obstructing 
the  recruiting  and  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States,"  and 
"of  using  the  mails  for  the  transmission  of  matter  advocating 
treason." 

The  first  contingent  of  our  army  was  then  in  France.  Early 
in  June  dispatches  from  London  reported  the  safe  arrival  in 
England  of  General  Pershing  and  staff.  The  White  Star  liner 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  COLORS  305 

Baltic  brought  them  to  Liverpool  with  such  secrecy  that  not  a 
man  in  the  guard  of  honor  drawn  up  on  the  landing  stage  knew 
why  he  had  been  paraded.  General  Pershing  and  his  officers, 
standing  at  head  of  the  gangway,  were  greeted  by  General  Sir 
Pitcairn  Campbell  and  Admiral  Stileman  and  then  came  down 
to  the  wharf  and  inspected  the  Royal  Welsh  Fusiliers  paraded 
in  their  honor,  a  regiment  beside  which  many  of  the  American- 
officers  had  fought  during  the  Boxer  rebellion  in  China. 

A  special  train  carried  the  Americans  to  London  where 
Lord  Derby,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  War,  Field-Marshal 
Lord  French  and  a  host  of  distinguished  officers  waited  to  bid 
them  welcome.  A  round  of  dinners,  receptions  and  formal  calls 
followed;  the  King  and  Queen  received  them  at  Buckingham 
Palace;  and  June  13  the  General  reached  Paris  whither  a  part 
of  his  staff  had  preceded  him. 

"From  early  afternoon,"  said  the  London  Times,  "Parisians 
of  all  sorts  and  conditions  began  to  line  the  two  mile  route 
along  which  the  cortege  was  to  pass.  Thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  workers  left  shops,  offices  and  factories  in  time  to  swell 
the  ranks.  The  Stars  and  Stripes  were  waving  in  countless 
windows.  At  the  station  itself  a  company  of  infantry,  with 
band,  was  drawn  up  to  render  honor.  A  few  minutes  before 
the  time  appointed  for  the  arrival  of  the  train  M.  Viviani, 
Marshal  Joffre,  General  Foch,  General  Brugere,  Military 
Governor  of  Paris  and  an  officer  representing  the  President  of 
the  Republic,  and  the  Prefects  of  Police  and  of  the  Seine,  as- 
sembled to  receive  General  Pershing  and  his  imposing  suite  of 
53  officers,  69  civil  secretaries  and  67  soldiers." 

On  the  fourteenth  a  visit  was  made  to  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  where  another  ovation  was  given  the  General. 

"The  setting  was  worthy  of  the  historic  occasion,"  according 
to  the  London  Times.  "The  large,  sweeping  hemicycle  of  the 
Chamber  was  crowded,  hardly  a  Deputy  was  absent,  the  public 
galleries  were  packed,  and  in  the  diplomatic  box  facing  the 
Tribune  sat  Mr.  Sharp,  the  American  Ambassador,  and  the 
modest,  khaki-clad  figure  of  General  Pershing.  Time  after 
time  as  M.  Viviani  eloquently  described  the  part  America  is 
ready  to  play  at  this  solemn  moment  of  destiny  the  House  was 
swept  to  its  feet  and  General  Pershing  looked  down  upon  a  sea 


396     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

of  upturned  faces  of  cheering  Deputies,  while  from  the  public 
galleries  cheers  echoed  and  reechoed." 

The  departure  of  Pershing  and  his  staff  was  no  secret,  but 
the  people  knew  nothing  of  the  sailing  of  the  first  contingent  of 
fighting  men  until  they  heard  with  pride  of  its  safe  arrival  on 
the  twenty-fifth  of  June  at  a  port  in  France.  A  second  con- 
tingent arrived  a  few  days  later,  and  as  July  drew  to  a  close 
a  third  landed  at  "a  European  port."  So  secretly  did  they 
come  that  no  demonstration  attended  their  landing.  Only  a 
few  spectators  saw  them  as  they  quickly  entrained  and  left  for 
parts  unknown. 

At  home,  meanwhile,  the  militia  had  been  mobilized.  On 
the  ninth  of  July  the  President,  acting  under  the  power  given 
to  him  by  the  Constitution,  called  the  National  Guard  into  the 
service  of  the  United  States.  In  eleven  States  it  was  to 
mobilize  on  the  fifteenth  of  July  and  gather  in  such  places  as 
might  be  chosen  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  In  eighteen  States 
and  the  District  of  Columbia  the  men  were  to  assemble  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  the  month,  and  on  August  fifth  those  in  all  States 
were  to  be  drafted  into  the  new  army  under  provisions  of  the 
act  of  May  eighteenth. 


CHAPTER  XV 

GERMAN   INTEIGUE 

WITH  our  entrance  into  the  war  events  in  Europe,  military 
and  political,  acquired  for  us  a  new  interest  and  concern.  From 
onlookers  we  had  become  allies.  The  war  was  now  our  war, 
and  every  victory  gained,  every  check  met  with  along  the  hun- 
dreds of  miles  of  battle  front  was  felt  by  us  as  never  before.  Jn 
the  West  the  progress  of  the  ruthless  submarine  war  alone  gave 
cause  for  deep  anxiety.  During  February  and  March,  if  Ger- 
man reports  may  be  trusted,  803  enemy  and  neutral  ships  had 
been  sunk  by  submarines,  causing  a  loss  of  1,642,500  tons  of 
shipping.  On  land  all  went  well.  The  British  and  French  in 
February  and  March  drove  back  the  German  front  between 
Arras  and  Soissons,  for  a  depth  of  twelve  miles,  capturing 
Bapaume,  Peronne,  Noyon,  and  some  sixty  villages.  The 
country  over  which  the  Germans  retreated  they  turned  into  a 
desert.  Wherever  possible,  said  the  German  account,  houses 
were  burned  down  before  evacuation.  Walls  that  would  not  fall 
were  blown  down  when  the  artillery  fire  of  the  Allies  drowned 
the  noise.  Whole  villages  disappeared  over  night,  the  people 
having  gathered  in  a  few  designated  towns  where  they  would 
be  safe.  Not  a  tree  nor  a  bush — nothing  was  left  lest  it  might 
give  shelter  to  the  Allies.  Orchards  were  destroyed,  fields 
ruined,  farmsteads  burned,  every  tree  sawed  off  close  to  the 
ground.  Church  organs  were  pulled  to  pieces  for  the  copper, 
brass  rails  were  torn  from  the  altars  and  crucifixes  pulled  from 
the  walls  and  broken.  Tombs  and  chapels  were  blown  to  pieces, 
and  young  girls  carried  away. 

On  Easter  Monday,  April  9,  the  British  began  another  drive 
along  a  forty-five  mile  front  from  Arras  to  St.  Quentin.  By  the 
end  of  the  first  day  they  had  driven  back  the  Germans  along 
twelve  miles  of  the  line  and  captured  the  famous  Vimy  Ridge, 

397 


398     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

and  so  opened  the  battle  of  Arras  which  raged  day  after  day 
for  more  than  a  month.  Villages,  guns  and  thousands  of  Ger- 
man prisoners  were  captured  and  a  great  advance  made.  On  the 
west  all  was  going  well.  But  not  so  in  the  east.  Russia  was 
giving  way. 

The  Provisional  Government  was  recognized  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  March  by  the  United  States,  and  on  the  twenty-third 
by  Great  Britain,  France  and  Italy,  and  proceeded  to  make 
great  reforms.  Thousands  of  political  prisoners  were  liberated 
and  brought  back  from  Siberia.  Poland  was  set  free  and  left  to 
choose  her  own  form  of  government;  Finland  was  given  back 
her  constitution,  and  religious  liberty  was  proclaimed. 

Among  those  who  came  back  to  Russia  was  Vladimir 
Utulyanov,  better  known  as  Nikolai  Lenine,  a  Radical  Socialist 
leader  allowed  by  Germany  to  return  through  Switzerland.  He 
now  used  his  liberty  to  denounce  the  Provisional  Government 
and  the  Allies  and  to  urge  a  separate  peace.  Angered  by  his 
harangues,  an  anti-pacifist  demonstration  was  made  in  Petro- 
grad  on  April  twenty-ninth.  Hundreds  of  maimed,  crippled 
and  convalescent  soldiers  gathered  in  front  of  the  Cathedral  and, 
followed  by  thousands  of  the  people,  started  for  the  Duma. 
Halting  on  the  way  before  the  American  Embassy,  they  were 
addressed  by  our  Ambassador. 

The  work  of  Lenine,  however,  was  not  without  effect.  The 
Government  was  forced  to  declare  its  policy  in  a  manifesto  ad- 
dressed to  the  Russian  people  and  formally  communicated  to 
the  Allies  in  a  note.  It  denied  that  Russia  would  make  a 
separate  peace,  denied  that  the  overthrow  of  the  old  Govern- 
ment had  caused  any  slackening  on  the  part  of  the  new,  pledged 
it  to  work  with  the  Allies  to  bring  the  world  war  to  a  victorious 
end  and  declared  its  belief  that,  inspired  by  the  same  sentiments, 
"the  allied  democracies"  would  find  means  "to  establish  the 
guaranties  and  penalties  necessary  to  prevent  any  recourse  to 
sanguinary  war  in  the  future."  To  the  Council  of  Soldiers'  and 
Workmen's  Delegates  this  policy  gave  great  offense  and,  May 
fourth,  demonstrations  against  the  Government  were  made  in 
Petrograd.  In  the  opinion  of  these  men  the  note  was  too  vague. 
The  Government  must  speak  plainly  and  give  the  Allies  to  un- 
derstand that  Russia  stood  for  no  annexations  and  no  indemni- 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  399 

ties.  A  truce  was  at  last  arranged,  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the 
Government  was  given  by  the  Council,  and  an  explanation  of 
the  note  of  May  first  was  announced.  The  Government  in 
speaking  of  "a  decisive  victory,"  the  Council  said,  did  not  mean 
that  free  Russia  would  seek  to  dominate  other  nations,  or  strip 
them  of  their  "national  patrimony,"  or  by  force  occupy  their 
territories;  but  would  establish  a  lasting  peace  on  the  basis 
of  the  right  of  each  nation  to  arrange  its  own  affairs.  By 
"penalties  and  guarantees"  essential  to  a  durable  peace  the 
Government  meant  the  reduction  of  armaments,  and  the  setting 
up  of  international  tribunals.  This  explanation  was  to  be  sent 
to  the  Allies  by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  The  Prime 
Minister  refused  to  do  this.  To  send  another  note  was  impos- 
sible. Rather  than  take  such  a  step  the  Ministers  would  resign, 
an  act  which  the  course  of  events  soon  forced  them  to  commit. 
First  to  go  was  the  Secretary  of  War,  whose  place  was  given  to 
Kerensky.  Milyukov  was  the  next ;  a  coalition  Cabinet  was  then 
formed,  and  into  it  were  taken  six  Socialists  of  all  shades  of 
opinion.  Truly  enough  did  Kerensky  say  to  a  delegation  from 
the  front,  "The  process  of  the  change  from  slavery  to  freedom 
is  not  going  on  properly.  We  have  tested  freedom  and  are 
slightly  intoxicated.  What  we  need  is  sobriety  and  discipline." 
Meantime  appeals  and  offers  of  aid  were  on  their  way  to 
Russia  from  our  country.  Early  in  May  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  through  its  president,  Samuel  Gompers,  appealed 
to  the  Council  of  Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Delegates.  "We  as- 
sure you,"  said  he,  "of  the  whole-hearted  support  of  the  Ameri- 
can people."  In  free  America,  as  in  free  Russia,  agitators  for  a 
Prussian  peace  had  spoken  out  so  freely  that  they  seemed  more 
influential  than  they  really  were.  In  truth,  but  few  in  America 
were  willing  to  allow  that  Kaiserism  should  continue  its  rule 
over  non-German  people  who  wished  to  be  free.  Should  we  not 
then  protest  against  that  pro-Kaiser  Socialist  interpretation,  no 
annexation,  which  demanded  that  all  oppressed  non-German 
people  should  be  forced  to  remain  under  Prussia  and  her 
lackeys,  Austria  and  Turkey  ?  Should  we  not  rather  hold  that 
there  must  be  no  forcible  annexations,  that  every  people  be 
free  to  choose  its  allegiance  ?  Like  you  we  are  opposed  to  puni- 


400     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

tive  indemnities,  and  denounce  those  laid  on  Belgium,  Poland, 
Serbia. 

"Let  the  German  Socialists  stop  their  pretenses  and  plottings 
to  bring  about  a  peace  in  the  interests  of  Kaiserism.  Let  them 
stop  calling  international  conferences  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Kaiser.  Let  them  stop  their  intrigues  to  cajole  the  Russian  and 
American  working  people,  to  interpret  your  demand  for  no  an- 
nexations, no  indemnities  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  intact  the 
power  of  the  German  military  caste. 

^We  feel  certain  that  no  message,  no  individual  emissary,  no 
commission  has  been  or  will  be  sent  to  offer  any  advice  what- 
ever to  Russia  as  to  how  she  shall  conduct  her  own  affairs." 
Reports  contrary  to  this  had  been  circulated  in  Russia.  They 
were  the  criminal  work  of  pro-Kaiser  propagandists,  set  afloat 
to  deceive  and  stir  up  bad  feeling  between  the  two  great 
democracies  of  the  world. 

Something  more  than  appeals  and  assurances  of  sympathy 
was  needed  if  Russia  was  to  continue  to  fight.  She  must  have 
financial  and  material  help  and  both  were  now  supplied.  On 
the  ninth  of  May  a  commission  of  distinguished  railroad  en- 
gineers set  off  for  Petrograd,  to  aid  in  rebuilding  and  develop- 
ing Russian  railways  and  routes  of  transportation,  and  to  carry 
assurances  that  the  United  States  stood  ready  to  furnish  any 
amount  of  rolling  stock  and  rails.  May  fifteenth  $100,000,000 
was  deposited  in  the  Federal  Reserve  Bank  to  the  credit  of  Rus- 
sia, to  be  used  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  in  our  country. 
That  same  day  the  State  Department  announced  that  a  special 
mission  headed  by  Mr.  Elihu  Root  would  be  sent  to  carry  to  the 
new  Republic  greetings  of  friendship,  brotherhood  and  God- 
speed, assurances  of  confidence  and  help  and  to  break  down  the 
efforts  of  Germany  and  Austria  to  make  a  separate  peace. 

Lest  this  should  be  done  by  the  contending  factions  in 
Russia  before  the  Special  Mission  arrived  the  President,  May 
26,  addressed  a  note  to  Russia. 

The  approaching  visit  of  the  American  delegation  was  a 
fitting  occasion  to  state  again,  he  said,  "the  objects  the  United 
States  had  in  mind  in  entering  the  war."  America  sought  no 
material  profit,  no  aggrandizement,  she  fought  for  no  advantage 
for  herself,  but  for  the  liberation  of  peoples  everywhere  from 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  401 

the  aggressions  of  autocratic  power,  for  the  liberty,  the  self- 
government  of  all  peoples,  and  every  feature  of  the  peace  which 
ends  the  war  must  be  designed  for  that  purpose.  Wrongs  must 
be  righted,  and  then  safeguards  created  to  prevent  their  being 
committed  again.  No  people  must  be  forced  to  submit  to  a 
sovereignty  under  which  it  does  not  wish  to  live. 

No  territory  must  change  hands  save  for  the  betterment  of 
its  inhabitants.  No  indemnities  must  be  demanded  save  in 
payment  of  wrongs  done.  No  readjustment  of  power  must  be 
made  save  to  secure  the  future  peace  of  the  world  and  the 
future  happiness  of  its  peoples. 

These  things  accomplished,  the  free  peoples  of  the  world 
must  draw  together  in  some  common  covenant  which  will  com- 
bine their  force  to  secure  peace  and  justice  in  the  dealings  of 
nations  with  one  another.  The  brotherhood  of  mankind  must 
no  longer  be  an  empty  phrase. 

The  message  was  delivered  to  the  Government  in  Petrograd 
early  in  June,  but  was  not  made  public  in  the  United  States 
until  the  ninth  of  the  month.  A  few  days  later  the  American 
delegation  reached  Petrograd  and  was  lodged  in  the  Winter 
Palace.  The  Provisional  Government  was  then  laboring  hard 
to  persuade  the  army  to  take  the  offensive. 

With  the  fall  of  autocracy  all  discipline  in  the  army  disap- 
peared. Fighting  ceased;  the  Russian  and  German  soldiers 
began  to  fraternize;  and  German  agents  went  about  trying  to 
persuade  the  troops  to  demand  a  separate  peace  or  at  least  an 
armistice.  Men  left  the  ranks  and  went  home.  Officers  who 
did  their  duty  were  arrested  by  the  men.  On  one  occasion 
three  regiments  refused  to  occupy  positions  to  which  they  were 
ordered. 

The  German  Commander  on  the  Eastern  front,  quick  to 
seize  the  opportunity,  now  sent  a  wireless  to  the  Russian  troops 
offering  an  armistice,  and  inviting  delegates  to  meet  him  if 
Russia  wished  to  know  the  terms  of  peace.  The  Council 
promptly  rejected  the  offer.  Russia  was  beginning  to  awake. 
The  General  Congress  of  Officers  Delegates  at  Petrograd  called 
for  "vigorous  fighting  and  an  immediate  offensive."  At  Odessa 
delegates  from  the  front  demanded  that  fraternizing  with  the 
Germans  cease.  Those  doing  so  must  be  declared  traitors,  and 


402     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

if  they  continued  to  offend  should  be  shot.  Deserters  must  be 
deprived  of  the  right  to  vote  at  the  elections  for  the  coming 
Constituent  Assembly,  and  be  denied  a  share  in  the  future  dis- 
tribution of  land.  A  Swiss  Socialist  pacifist  who  had  come  to 
Petrograd,  and  handed  two  of  the  members  of  the  Provisional 
Government  a  telegram  from  a  member  of  the  Swiss  Federal 
Council,  was  ordered  to  leave  Russia.  The  telegram  set  forth 
that  the  sender  was  sure  Germany  would  make  an  honorable 
peace  with  Russia,  give  her  financial  support,  not  meddle  in 
her  internal  affairs,  come  to  a  good  understanding  concerning 
Poland,  Lithuania  and  Courland,  and  restore  her  occupied  ter- 
ritories. The  Congress  of  Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Delegates 
of  all  Russia  just  gathered  in  Petrograd  approved  of  the  ex- 
pulsion, and  the  Duma  resolved  that  the  safety  of  Russia  lay  in 
an  immediate  offensive. 

July  first  the  offensive  began  along  a  twenty  mile  front  in 
Galicia,  and  for  a  time  all  went  well.  Day  by  day  the  enemy 
was  driven  back,  mile  by  mile,  on  a  front  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  long.  All  Russia  was  wild  with  delight.  Congratula- 
tions poured  in  from  the  Allies.  Russia  had  found  herself. 
The  long  hoped  for  blow  had  been  struck.  Then  came  the  dis~ 
aster.  On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  in  northeastern  Galicia, 
a  regiment  left  the  trenches  and  retired.  Others  when  com- 
manded to  advance  held  meetings  and  debated  whether  or  not 
the  order  should  be  obeyed.  This  was  the  beginning.  As  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  South  Western  front  reported  to 
the  Government,  a  fatal  crisis  had  occurred  in  the  morale  of  the 
troops.  "Most  military  units  are  in  a  state  of  complete  disor- 
ganization, their  spirit  for  an  offensive  has  utterly  disappeared 
and  they  no  longer  listen  to  the  orders  of  their  superiors." 
Some  left  the  trenches  without  waiting  for  the  approach  of  the 
enemy.  "For  a  distance  of  several  hundred  versts  long  files 
of  deserters,  both  armed  and  unarmed,  men  who  are  in  good 
health  and  robust,  who  have  lost  all  shame  and  feel  that  they  can 
act  together  with  impunity,  are  proceeding  to  the  rear  of  the 
army.  Frequently  entire  units  desert  in  this  manner."  When 
the  month  closed  the  enemy  had  won  back  almost  all  of  Galicia, 
and  August  third  crossed  the  Russian  frontier  northeast  of 
Czernowitz. 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  403 

Just  at  this  time  the  American  Mission  to  Russia,  coming 
home,  reached  our  Pacific  Coast.  At  a  luncheon  given  to  the 
members  Mr.  Root  declared  his  unshaken  faith  in  Russia.  "I 
have,"  said  he,  "abiding  faith  that  Russia  through  trial  and 
tribulation  will  work,  create  and  perpetuate  a  great,  free,  self- 
governing  democracy."  He  praised  the  Russian  people,  their 
consideration  for  the  rights  of  others,  their  "high  capacity  for 
self-control,"  their  "noble  idealism,"  and  pleaded  for  sympathy 
for  a  nation  struggling  with  problems  we  had  been  studying  for 
a  hundred  and  forty  years  and  for  which  we  have  not  yet 
found  solutions. 

The  faith  of  our  Government  was  shown  when,  towards  the 
close  of  August,  $100,000,000  was  loaned  Russia,  making 
$275,000,000  advanced  since  we  entered  the  war,  and  the  Presi- 
dent sent  to  the  National  Council  assembled  at  Moscow  the 
"cordial  greetings  of  their  friends,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,"  an  expression  of  their  "confidence  in  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  the  ideals  of  democracy  and  self-government  against 
all  enemies  within  and  without,"  and  "renewed  assurances  of 
every  material  and  moral  assistance  they  can  extend  to  the 
Government  of  Russia  in  the  promotion  of  the  common  cause 
in  which  the  two  nations  are  unselfishly  united." 

The  month  was  notable  for  the  occurrence  of  many  events 
of  more  than  passing  interest,  or  importance.  Great  gains  were 
made  and  thousands  of  prisoners  taken  by  the  French  and 
British  along  the  battle  front  from  Verdun  to  Ypres;  the 
Italians  renewed  their  drive  towards  Trieste,  carried  Monte 
Santo  by  storm  and  captured  prisoners,  guns  and  stores  from 
the  Austrians;  the  Pope  amazed  the  Allies  by  laying  before 
them  a  plan  for  peace;  our  late  Ambassador  at  Berlin  aroused 
world  wide  discussion  of  the  causes  of  the  war  by  the  publica- 
tion of  his  experiences  at  the  Imperial  Court ;  and  China,  the 
seventeenth  nation,  declared  war  on  Germany. 

The  journals  which  announced  the  entrance  of  China  into 
the  war,  also  made  known  the  peace  proposal  from  the  Pope. 
The  note  was  addressed  to  the  Leaders  of  the  Belligerent  Peo- 
ples ;  but  the  Holy  See  having  no  diplomatic  relations  with  the 
Republic  of  France,  the  kingdom  of  Italy  and  the  United 
States,  copies  were  sent  to  King  George  to  be  forwarded  to  these 


404     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Powers.  Twelve  other  copies  were  likewise  sent  for  the 
"leaders  of  nations  friendly  to  the  Allies"  except  Russia,  Bel- 
gium and  Brazil,  to  whom  the  document  had  been  sent  direct. 

News  of  the  note  and  a  summary  of  its  contents  came  from 
Rome,  but  some  days  elapsed  before  an  official  copy  was  made 
public  by  the  Foreign  Office  at  London.  It  then  proved  to  be 
an  invitation  to  "the  Governments  of  the  belligerent  peoples  to 
come  to  an  agreement  on  the  following  points  which  seem  to  be 
a  basis  for  a  just  and  durable  peace." 

First  of  all  these  must  be  replacement  of  the  force  of  arms 
by  the  moral  force  of  right,  and  reciprocal  disarmament,  leav- 
ing only  enough  to  maintain  public  order.  There  must  be  the 
replacement  of  armies  by  arbitration  with  penalties  to  be  laid 
on  any  State  that  refused  to  arbitrate  a  national  question  or 
accept  the  decision.  Indemnity  for  damage  done  and  the  cost 
of  war  should  be  waived ;  there  should  be  "entire  and  reciprocal 
condonation" ;  Belgium  should  be  evacuated  with  guarantees  for 
her  political,  military  and  economic  independence;  Germany 
should  be  given  her  colonies  in  return  for  the  occupied  regions 
in  France.  Territorial  questions  such  as  those  between  Italy 
and  Austria,  and  Germany  and  France,  in  other  words,  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  Trent,  Trieste,  should  be  submitted  to  peaceful  nego- 
tiation ;  and  so  too  should  the  territorial  and  political  questions 
relative  to  Armenia,  the  Balkan  States  and  Poland.  "Such 
are  the  principal  bases  whereon  we  believe  the  future  reorgan- 
ization of  the  peoples  ought  to  be  built.  .  .  .  Incline  your  ear 
therefore  to  our  prayer.  Accept  the  fraternal  invitation  which 
we  send  you  in  the  name  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  Reflect  on  your  grave  responsibility  before  God  and  be- 
fore man." 

In  Great  Britain  the  peace  plan  was  held  to  be  such  as  the 
Allies  were  bound  to  reject.  It  was  pro-German,  anti-Ally,  and 
the  outcome  of  German  inspiration,  a  relayed  message  from 
Berlin.  What  were  nations  to  think  of  a  proposal  which  put  the 
aggressor  and  the  assailed  on  the  same  footing,  and  offered  the 
innocent  nothing  but  "entire  and  reciprocal  condonation"  for 
the  wrongs  they  had  suffered  ?  The  hand  of  the  Central  Powers 
was  in  it.  The  hand  was  the  hand  of  the  Pope,  but  the  voice 
was  the  voice  of  the  Kaiser.  The  Allies'  terms  of  peace  were 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  405 

and  would  remain,  full  restitution,  full  reparation,  effectual 
guarantees.  They  must,  if  they  would  survive,  reject  the  pro- 
posals and  see  the  war  through. 

French  opinion  as  set  forth  in  the  Paris  journals  was  the 
same  as  that  in  London.  The  whole  world,  it  was  said,  includ- 
ing the  Pope,  knows  the  peace  terms  of  France  and  her  Allies. 
The  Pope  has  but  sent  the  terms  of  the  Central  Powers.  His 
offer  is  doomed  to  be  rejected.  How  can  a  voice  be  raised  in  the 
name  of  divine  justice  and  yet  demand  no  punishment  for  the 
guilty,  no  reparation  for  all  wrongs,  those  of  1871  as  well  as 
those  of  1914? 

Lord  Robert  Cecil,  speaking  for  himself,  to  the  Associated 
Press,  said :  the  Allies  could  not  think  of  condonation  until  the 
criminals  had  repented  and  shown  their  repentance  by  word 
and  deed.  Yet  he  could  not  help  feeling  surprise  and  sorrow 
that  the  note  contained  not  a  word  concerning  certain  outrages 
done  during  the  war  which  made  it  impossible  for  the  enemies 
of  Germany  to  trust  her  or  treat  with  her.  Impartiality  need 
not  have  prevented  the  Pope  from  pointing  out  and  deprecating 
these  outrages. 

In  our  country  opinion  was  divided.  There  were  those 
who  could  see  nothing  improbable  in  the  suggestion  that  the 
terms  of  peace  came  from  Germany  or  Austria.  The  Pope  did 
not  say  with  whom  the  Allies  were  to  negotiate.  If  he  meant 
Germany,  the  Germany  which  looked  on  treaties  as  scraps  of 
paper,  the  treacherous  Germany  which  murdered  our  citizens, 
sought  the  dismemberment  of  our  territory,  covered  our  country 
with  spies  and  plotters,  and  defied  our  rights  as  neutrals,  at 
the  very  time  she  was  engaged  in  the  exchange  of  friendly  notes, 
the  proposal  ought  to  be  promptly  rejected. 

There  were  those  who  held  that,  as  a  stroke  of  policy,  the 
President  ought  to  urge  on  the  Allies  a  careful  consideration 
and  acceptance  of  the  proposal.  Jt  was  not  expected  that  Ger- 
many would  accept.  In  that  event  she  would  have  to  settle 
with  her  Socialists,  Radical  Socialists  and  the  Centrum  party, 
which,  as  composed  of  Catholics,  would  be  disposed  to  join  in 
the  demand  for  its  acceptance,  and  the  Junkers  would  be  given  a 
serious  blow.  If  Germany  did  accept,  which  was  not  expected, 
a  way  to  peace  would  be  opened. 


406     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

There  were  those  who  could  see  nothing  practical  in  the 
proposal,  nothing  but  a  reduction  of  armament,  the  setting  up 
of  a  world  court,  a  return  to  the  status  quo  ante  helium,  to 
conditions  as  they  were  before  the  war.  Arbitration  on  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  Trieste,  the  Trentino,  Poland,  Armenia  and  the 
Balkans  it  was  idle  to  expect. 

August  27  the  President  made  his  rely.  His  Holiness  had 
in  substance  proposed  a  return  to  the  status  quo  ante  helium, 
with  condonation,  disarmament,  a  concert  of  nations,  freedom 
of  the  seas,  and  a  settlement  of  the  territorial  claims  of  France 
and  Italy,  and  of  the  troublesome  problem  of  the  Balkans.  It 
was  clear  no  part  of  this  program  could  be  carried  out  unless 
a  return  to  the  status  quo  ante  gave  a  firm  and  satisfactory  basis 
for  it. 

The  object  of  this  war  is  to  deliver  the  free  peoples  of  the  world 
from  the  menace  and  the  actual  power  of  a  vast  military  establish- 
ment controlled  by  an  irresponsible  Government,  which,  having 
secretly  planned  to  dominate  the  world,  proceeded  to  carry  the  plan 
out  without  regard  either  to  the  sacred  obligations  of  treaty  or  the 
long-established  practices  and  long-cherished  principles  of  Interna- 
tional action  and  honor;  which  chose  its  own  time  for  the  war;  deliv- 
ered its  blow  fiercely  and  suddenly,  stopped  at  no  barrier,  either  of 
law  or 'of  mercy;  swept  a  whole  continent  with  the  tide  of  blood, 
not  the  blood  of  soldiers  only,  but  the  blood  of  innocent  women  and 
children  also,  and  of  the  helpless  poor ;  and  now  stands  balked  but  not 
defeated,  the  enemy  of  four-fifths  of  the  world. 

This  power  was  not  the  German  people,  but  the  ruthless 
master  of  the  German  people.  To  deal  with  it  in  the  way  pro- 
posed by  His  Holiness  would  make  necessary  a  permanent 
hostile  combination  of  nations  against  the  German  people,  and 
would  abandon  "the  new-born  Russia  to  the  intrigues,  the  mani- 
fold subtle  interference,  and  the  certain  counter-revolution 
which  would  be  attempted  by  all  the  malign  influences  to  which 
the  German  Government  has  of  late  accustomed  the  world." 

Can  a  peace  be  based  upon  a  restitution  of  its  power,  or  upon  any 
word  of  honor  it  could  pledge  in  a  treaty  of  settlement  and  accom- 
modation ? 

The  President  did  not  think  so. 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  407 

We  cannot  take  the  word  of  the  present  rulers  of  Germany 
as  a  guarantee  of  anything  that  is  to  endure,  unless  explicitly 
supported  by  such  conclusive  evidence  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  the 
German  people  themselves  as  the  other  peoples  of  the  world  would  be 
justified  in  accepting. 

Without  such  guarantees  treaties  of  settlement,  agreements  for 
disarmament,  covenants  to  set  up  arbitration  in  the  place  of  force, 
territorial  adjustments,  reconstitutions  of  small  nations,  if  made  with 
the  German  Government,  no  man,  no  nation  could  now  depend  on. 
We  must  await  some  new  evidence  of  the  purposes  of  the  great 
peoples  of  the  Central  Powers.  God  grant  it  may  be  given  soon  and 
in  a  way  to  restore  the  confidence  of  all  peoples  everywhere  in  the 
faith  of  nations  and  the  possibility  of  a  covenanted  peace. 

The  test  of  every  plan  for  peace,  the  President  believed  to 
be: 

Is  it  based  upon  the  faith  of  all  the  peoples  involved,  or  merely 
upon  the  word  of  an  ambitious  intriguing  Government,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  group  of  free  peoples  on  the  other?  .  .  . 

The  purposes  of  the  Unifed  States  in  this  war  are  known  to  the 
whole  world,  to  every  people  to  whom  the  truth  has  been  permitted 
to  come.  They  do  not  need  to  be  stated  again.  We  seek  no  material 
advantage  of  any  kind. 

We  believe  that  the  intolerable  wrongs  done  in  this  war  by  the 
furious  and  brutal  power  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  ought 
to  be  repaired,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  sovereignty  of  any 
people,  rather  a  vindication  of  the  sovereignty,  both  of  those  that  are 
weak  and  of  those  that  are  strong.  Punitive  damages,  the  dismem- 
berment of  Empires,  the  establishment  of  selfish  and  exclusive  eco- 
nomic leagues  we  deem  inexpedient  and  in  the  end  worse  than  futile, 
no  proper  basis  for  a  peace  of  any  kind,  least  of  all  for  an  enduring 
peace.  That  must  be  based  upon  justice  and  fairness  and  the  com- 
mon rights  of  mankind. 

Everywhere  in  our  country  the  reply  met  with  approval 
by  the  press.  His  Holiness,  said  a  New  Orleans  journal,  sug- 
gests certain  terms  as  a  basis  for  discussion.  The  President 
answers,  that  negotiation  is  impossible  so  long  as  one  side  doubts 
the  other's  good  faith.  The  Allies  cannot  forget  that  Hohenzol- 
lern  Germany  had  no  scruples  about  violating  the  neutrality  of 
Belgium,  a  neutrality  she  stood  pledged  to  protect,  and  the 
President  cannot  forget  Germany's  broken  promises  regarding 
submarine  warfare,  promises  which,  as  tbe  Chancellor  told  the 


408     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Reichstag,  were  meant  to  be  kept  while  a  great  fleet  of  U-hoats 
was  building  and  not  an  hour  longer. 

The  President,  said  another,  repeats  the  distinction  he  drew 
between  the  German  people  and  the  ruling  autocracy.  His  dec- 
laration that  any  treaty  agreement  must  have  the  indorsement 
of  the  German  people  states  the  essential  truth  of  the  situation. 
The  people  will  applaud  the  demand  that  peace  when  it  comes 
must  bring  to  despoiled  nationalities  a  restitution  of  their 
heritages  and  to  democracies  a  safety  that  can  never  be  violated. 

"They  read  with  their  eyes  shut  who  say  that  the  President 
has  rejected  the  peace  proposals  of  Pope  Benedict,"  said  the 
Philadelphia  Evening  Ledger.  Far  from  it:  he  had,  indeed, 
shown  how  the  German  people  might  have  peace :  he  had  opened 
the  gates  for  reconciliation  and  a  way  out  of  the  war.  His 
words  "we  must  await  some  new  evidence  of  the  purposes  of 
the  great  peoples  of  the  Central  Powers,"  were  an  "invitation, 
open  and  aboveboard,  clear  and  emphatic." 

The  wrath  of  the  press  in  Germany,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
flamed  high.  The  President  must  draw  his  knowledge  of  the 
German  people  from  the  British  press,  else  he  would  know 
that  in  its  belief  in  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  for  which  it 
bleeds  and  suffers  the  German  people  is  one  with  the  Govern- 
ment. His  language  was  the  outward  expression  of  solidarity 
with  England.  He  used  the  same  weapons  as  his  ally,  held  the 
alleged  German  autocracy  responsible  for  the  war.  The  "au- 
tocratic system"  of  Germany  could  no  longer  be  charged  with 
causing  the  war.  Disclosures  made  by  General  Sankchonitinoff 
on^  trial  for  treason,  proved  to  the  world  that  the  irresponsible 
despots  of  Russia  were  used  to  unleash  the  dogs  of  war.  The 
charge  against  Germany  was  ridiculous  and  comic  in  the  mouth 
of  Mr.  Wilson,  that  "democratic  ally  of  democratic  England 
which  used  oligarchical  Russia."  Had  his  Democratic  con-, 
science  always  been  as  susceptible  as  he  pretended  it  was,  he 
would  not  have  supplied  the  Czar's  Russia  with  materials  of 
war,  he  would  not  have  played  a  part  in  the  Anglo-Russian  plan, 
would  not  have  used  against  Germany  that  poisonous  weapon,  so 
hateful  to  Democracy,  "a  conscious  lie."  Mr.  Wilson's  answer 
must  be  characterized  as  pitiful.  The  man  who  once  stood  forth 
as  a  peacemaker  now  blows  one  of  the  loudest  war  trumpets. 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  409 

He  who  proclaimed  peace  without  victory  now  demands  the 
crushing  of  Germany.  Every  word  of  the  note  was  "grotesque 
nonsense."  The  "climax  of  all  nonsense"  was  that  the  German 
people  were  groaning  under  a  cruel  government.  The  whole 
people,  rich  and  poor,  Socialist  and  Conservative,  stood  firm  for 
the  Emperor  and  the  Empire,  and  might  be  relied  on  to  stand 
more  firmly  around  the  Emperor  "against  this  hypocrite." 

The  Austrian  press  echoed  the  expressions  of  the  German. 
The  tone  of  the  President's  note  was  unparalleled.  In  the  most 
humiliating  and  offensive  manner  terms  were  dictated  to  the 
German  people.  If  Germany  lay  prostrate,  her  army  beaten, 
her  fleets  destroyed,  no  more  degrading  terms  could  have  been 
proposed.  He  sets  up  a  European  Monroe  Doctrine  and  claims 
the  right  to  change  the  forms  of  government  on  the  Continent. 

Despite  the  outburst  of  abuse  and  indignation  the  answer  of 
the  President  to  the  Pope  made  a  deep  impression  in  Germany. 
Matthias  Erzberger,  leader  of  the  clerical  center  in  the  Reichs- 
tag, it  was  announced  would  demand  legislation  to  make  the 
Government  responsible  to  that  body,  and  to  leave  the  question 
of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  the  decision  of  the  people  in  those  ter- 
ritories. A  Socialist  journal  of  Leipsic  declared  that  the  Ger- 
man people  must  demand  that  its  political  institutions  be  made 
more  democratic,  and  must  repudiate  the  argument  of  the  pan- 
Germans  that  such  charges  cannot  be  made  because  they  are  in- 
sisted upon  by  the  enemy. 

The  President  in  his  reply  to  the  Pope  had  referred  to  "the 
malign  influences  to  which  the  German  Government  has  of  late 
accustomed  the  world."  One  of  the  nations  subjected  to  this 
malign  influence,  as  shown  by  documents  now  made  public  by 
Secretary  Lansing,  was  Sweden. 

"The  Department  of  State,"  said  the  Secretary,  "has  secured 
certain  telegrams,  from  Count  Luxburg,  German  charge  d'af- 
faires at  Buenos  Aires,  to  the  Foreign  Office  at  Berlin,  which, 
I  regret  to  say,  were  dispatched  from  Buenos  Aires  by  the 
Swedish  legation  as  their  own  official  message,  addressed  to 
the  Stockholm  Foreign  Office. 

"The  following  are  tranlations  of  the  German  text: 

"  'May  19,  1917,  Number  32.    This  Government  has  now  released 
German  and  Austrian  ships  on  which  hitherto  a  guard  had  been 


410     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

placed.  In  consequence  of  the  settlement  of  the  Monte  (Protegido) 
case  there  has  been  a  great  change  in  public  feeling.  The  Government 
will  in  future  only  clear  Argentine  ships  as  far  as  Las  Palmas.  I 
beg  that  the  small  steamships  Oran  and  Guazo,  31st  of  January 
(meaning  which  sailed  31st),  300  tons,  which  are  (now)  nearing 
Bordeaux  with  a  view  to  change  the  flag,  may  be  spared  if  possible 
or  else  sunk  without  a  trace  being  left  ("Spurlos  Versenkt"). 

"  'LUXBURG.' 

"  'July  3,  1917.  Number  59.  I  learn  from  a  reliable  source  that 
the  acting  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  who  is  a  notorious  ass  and 
Anglophile,  declared  in  a  secret  session  of  the  Senate  that  Argentine 
would  demand  from  Berlin  a  promise  not  to  sink  more  Argentine 
ships.  If  not  agreed  to,  relations  would  be  broken  off.  I  recommend 
refusal  and  if  necessary  calling  in  the  mediation  of  Spain. 

"  'LUXBURG.' 

"  'July  9,  1917.  Number  54.  Without  showing  any  tendency  to 
make  concessions  postpone  reply  to  Argentine  note  until  receipt  of 
further  reports.  A  change  of  Ministry  is  probable.  As  regards  Argen- 
tine steamships,  I  recommend  either  compelling  them  to  turn  back, 
sinking  them  without  leaving  any  traces,  or  letting  them  through. 
They  are  all  quite  small. 

"  'LUXBURG.'  " 

The  meaning  is  clear.  If  the  ships  could  be  spared,  well 
and  good.  If  they  must  be  sunk,  the  destruction  of  them  should 
be  so  done  that  not  a  man  should  escape  to  tell  the  tale  lest  diplo- 
matic relations  with  Argentina  be  severed  and  a  means  of  send- 
ing important  information  to  Berlin  be  lost.  But  the  real  of- 
fense lay  in  the  act  of  the  Swedish  Foreign  Office  which,  by 
transmitting  to  Berlin  information  intended  to  aid  German  war 
measures,  had  committed  an  act  of  war  against  the  Allies. 

At  Buenos  Aires  there  was  an  anti-German  demonstration ; 
the  German  legation  was  stoned ;  the  German  Club  and  a  Ger- 
man newspaper  office  were  set  on  fire,  and  passports  were  sent 
to  Count  Luxburg,  and  his  immediate  departure  requested  and 
Germany  duly  notified  that  he  was  persona  non  grata. 

From  Stockholm  came  the  explanation  tbat  in  the  summer 
of  1915,  Great  Britain  had  requested,  not  formally  demanded, 
that  the  sending  of  telegrams  between  Germany  and  North 
America  should  cease.  The  request  was  granted  but  the 
Swedish  Minister  did  not  consider  this  a  bar  to  sending  tele- 
grams to  neutrals,  other  than  the  United  States,  and  Sweden 
had  continued  to  be  the  channel  of  communication  between  Ger- 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  411 

many  and  Argentina.  The  telegrams  mentioned  in  the  Ameri- 
can statement  were  written  in  code ;  Baron  Lowen,  the  Swedish 
Minister  to  Argentina,  did  not  know  their  contents;  had  acted 
in  good  faith  in  forwarding  them,  and  would  not  be  recalled. 

But  it  was  not  only  in  Buenos  Aires  that  Representatives  of 
Sweden  had  aided  the  cause  of  Germany.  Her  Minister  in 
Mexico  had  been  so  helpful  that  the  German  Minister  urged 
that  he  be  rewarded.  His  letter,  dated  March  8,  1916,  was  now 
made  public  by  Secretary  Lansing  and  reads  as  follows: 

Herr  Folke  Cronholm,  the  Swedish  charge  d'affaires  here,  since 
his  arrival  here  has  not  disguised  his  sympathy  for  Germany  and  has 
entered  into  close  relations  with  this  legation.  He  is  the  only  diplo- 
mat through  whom  information  from  a  hostile  camp  can  be  obtained. 
Moreover,  he  acts  as  intermediary  for  official  diplomatic  intercourse 
between  this  legation  and  your  Excellency.  In  the  course  of  this  he 
is  obliged  to  go  personally  each  time  to  the  telegraph  office,  not  seldom 
quite  late  at  night,  in  order  to  hand  in  the  telegrams.  Herr  Cronholm 
was  formerly  at  Pekin  and  at  Tokio,  and  was  responsible  for  the 
preliminary  arrangements  which  had  to  be  made  for  the  representa- 
tion of  his  country  in  each  case.  Before  he  came  out  here  he  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  consulate  at  Hamburg.  Herr  Cronholm  has 
not  got  a  Swedish,  but  only  a  Chinese  order  at  present.  I  venture 
to  submit  to  your  Excellency  the  advisability  of  laying  before  his 
Majesty  the  Emperor  the  name  of  Herr  Cronholm,  with  a  view  to  the 
crown  order  of  the  second  class  being  bestowed  upon  him.  It  would 
perhaps  be  desirable,  in  order  not  to  excite  the  enemy's  suspicion,  to 
treat  with  secrecy  the  matter  of  the  issue  of  the  patents  until  the  end 
of  the  war,  should  the  decision  be  favorable  to  my  suggestion.  This 
would  mean  that  the  matter  would  be  communicated  to  no  one  but 
the  recipient  and  his  Government,  and  even  to  them  only  under  the 
seal  of  secrecy,  wbile  the  publication  of  the  bestowal  of  the  decoration 
would  be  postponed  until  the  end  of  the  war.  I  should  be  particularly 
grateful  to  your  Excellency,  if  I  could  be  furnished  with  telegraphic 
news  of  tbe  bestowal  of  the  decoration,  which  I  strongly  recommend, 
in  view  of  the  circumstances  detailed  above. 

VON  ECKHARDT. 

And  now  Secretary  Lansing  made  further  disclosures  of 
German  intrigue  in  our  country  by  no  less  a  personage  than 
Count  Johann  von  Bernstorff. 

"The  Secretary  of  State,"  so  reads  the  public  statement,  "is- 
sues the  following  message  from  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  to 
the  Berlin  Foreign  Office,  dated  January  23,  1917: 


412     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"I  request  authority  to  pay  out  up  to  $50,000  in  order,  as  on  former 
occasions,  to  influence  Congress  through  the  organizations  you  know 
of,  which  can,  perhaps,  prevent  war.  I  am  beginning  in  the  mean- 
time to  act  accordingly.  In  the  above  circumstances  a  public  official 
German  declaration  in  favor  of  Ireland  is  highly  desirable  in  order 
to  gain  the  support  of  Irish  influence  here." 


That  the  Ambassador  would  attempt  to  bribe  Congress  with 
so  small  a  sum  of  money  as  $50,000,  indeed,  that  he  would  try 
to  purchase  any  member  of  Congress,  was  not  to  be  supposed. 
^Nevertheless,  both  Senate  and  House  were  thrown  into  violent 
excitement.  Demands  were  made  for  a  prompt  investigation  of 
the  method  of  German  propaganda  and  a  member  from  Alabama 
declared  that  he  could  name  "thirteen  or  fourteen  men"  in 
Congress  who,  in  his  opinion,  had  "acted  in  a  suspicious 
fashion."  After  the  excitement  had  gone  down  a  little  the 
feeling  grew  that  no  investigation  was  needed;  that  the  influ- 
ence on  Congress  to  which  von  Bernstorff  alluded  was  the  let- 
ters and  telegrams  sent  by  thousands  to  members  at  every  seri- 
ous crisis  before  the  declaration  of  war. 

While  the  question  was  still  under  debate  the  Committee  on 
Public  Information  put  out  a  bulletin  exposing  certain  Ger- 
man plotters  and  plots  and  the  part  certain  Americans  took 
therein  before  the  United  States  entered  the  war.  When 
Government  agents  one  morning  in  April,  1916,  entered  the 
office  of  Wolf  von  Igel  in  Wall  Street,  New  York,  and  seized 
the  papers  there  found  they  came  into  possession  of  a  mass  of 
letters,  telegrams,  ledgers,  checks,  receipts,  cipher  codes,  lists  of 
spies  all  going  to  prove  that  tbe  German  Imperial  Government, 
while  at  peace  with  our  country,  through  its  representatives 
was  deliberately  engaged  in  violating  the  neutrality  laws  of  the 
United  States ;  was  planning  the  destruction  of  merchant  ships 
on  the  high  seas;  was  aiding  Irish  revolutionary  plots  against 
Great  Britain;  was  supporting  a  spy  system  disguised  as  a 
"bureau  of  investigation"  and  a  bureau  to  foment  labor  troubles 
in  munition  plants ;  was  paying  Americans  to  write  and  lecture 
in  behalf  of  Germany  and  in  short  was  financing  a  country-wide 
propaganda.  Much  of  the  evidence  produced  in  support  of 
these  facts  had  been  used  in  the  prosecution  of  those  concerned 
and  had  already  been  made  public.  Some  had  never  before  been 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  413 

published.  All  was  of  great  interest  because  of  the  official  de- 
nial of  the  German  Government  transmitted  by  wireless  and 
published  in  the  New  York  Times  in  December,  1915. 

The  German  Government  has,  naturally,  never  knowingly  accepted 
the  support  of  any  person,  group  of  persons,  or  organization  seeking 
to  promote  the  cause  of  Germany  in  the  United  States  by  illegal  acts, 
by  counsel  of  violence,  by  contravention  of  law,  or  by  any  means  what- 
ever that  could  offend  the  American  people  in  the  pride  of  their  own 
authority. 

Among  the  documents  was  a  letter  taken  from  the  papers 
of  Mr.  James  J.  F.  Archibald,  when  seized  by  the  British  in 
August,  1915.  Jt  was  written  by  the  Austro-Hungarian  Minis- 
ter at  Washington,  and  makes  known  the  workings  of  a  certain 
pretended  labor  information  and  relief  bureau.  .Disguised  as 
the  Liebau  Employment  Agency  with  a  head  office  in  New 
York  City  and  branches  in  Bridgeport,  Philadelphia,  Pitts- 
burgh, Cleveland,  Detroit  and  Chicago,  and  appearing  to  have 
no  other  purpose  than  securing  employment  for  German,  Aus- 
trian and  Hungarian  workmen,  the  real  object  of  the  Agency 
was  to  prevent  the  manufacture  of  munitions.  The  letter  reads: 

It  is  my  impression  that  we  can  disorganize  and  hold  up  for 
months,  if  not  entirely  prevent,  the  manufacture  of  munitions  in 
Bethlehem  and  the  Middle  West  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Ger- 
man military  attache,  is  of  importance  and  amply  outweighs  the 
comparatively  small  expenditure  of  money  involved;  but  even  if  the 
strikes  do  not  come  off  it  is  probable  that  we  should  extort,  under 
pressure  of  circumstances,  more  favorable  conditions  of  labor  for  our 
poor  downtrodden  fellow-countrymen. 

So  far  as  German  workmen  are  found  in  the  skilled  hands,  means 
of  leaving  will  be  provided  immediately  for  them.  Besides  this  a 
private  German  employment  office  has  been  established  which  pro- 
vides employment  for  persons  who  have  voluntarily  given  up  their 
places,  and  it  is  already  working  well.  We  shall  also  join  in  and  the 
widest  support  is  assured  us. 

How  well  this  Agency  succeeded  in  its  work  is  told  in  a 
letter  of  March  24,  1916,  to  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff. 

"Engineers  and  persons  in  the  better  class  of  positions,  and  who 
had  means  of  their  own,  were  persuaded  by  the  propaganda  of  the 
bureau  to  leave  war-material  factories." 


414     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"The  commercial  employment  bureaus  of  the  country  have  no 
supply  of  unemployed  technicians.  .  .  .  Many  disturbances  and  sus- 
pensions which  war  material  factories  have  had  to  suffer  and  which 
it  was  not  always  possible  to  remove  quickly,  but  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, often  lead  to  long  strikes,  may  be  attributed  to  the  energetic 
propaganda  of  the  employment  bureau." 

Nearly  a  score  of  men  are  mentioned  in  the  bulletin  as  hav- 
ing been  engaged  in  violating  the  neutrality  of  the  United 
States.  One,  in  a  letter  to  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff,  ex- 
pressed his  desire  to  rent  rooms  near  munition  plants  and  blow 
them  up ;  another  offered  a  shell  of  his  own  design ;  another  de- 
scribes new  methods  of  blowing  up  trenches  and  planting  mines 
for  the  destruction  of  ships. 

The  collection  of  letters  in  the  possession  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  was  not  yet  exhausted,  and  October  10  he  made  pub- 
lic three  messages  which  revealed  the  fact  that  the  German 
Ambassador  as  far  hack  as  January,  1916,  had  been  a  party  to 
acts  of  war  against  the  United  States. 

"January  3 :  Secret :  General  staff  desires  energetic  action  in 
regard  to  proposed  destruction  of  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  at  sev- 
eral points  with  a  view  to  complete  and  protracted  interruption  of 
traffic.  Captain  Boehm,  who  is  known  on  our  side  and  is  shortly 
returning,  has  been  given  instructions.  Inform  the  military  attache 
and  provide  the  necessary  funds. 

"ZlMMERMANN." 

"January  26 :  For  military  attache.  You  can  obtain  particulars 
as  to  persons  suitable  for  carrying  on  sabotage  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada  from  the  following  persons :  1,  Joseph  MacGarrity,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. ;  2,  John  P.  Keating,  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago ;  3,  Jere- 
miah O'Leary,  16  Park  Row,  New  York. 

"One  and  two  are  absolutely  reliable  and  discreet.  Number  three 
is  reliable,  but  not  always  discreet.  These  persons  were  indicated 
by  Sir  Roger  Casement.  In  the  United  States  sabotage  can  be  car- 
ried out  in  every  kind  of  factory  for  supplying  munitions  of  war. 
Railway  embankments  and  bridges  must  not  be  touched.  Embassy 
must  in  no  circumstances  be  compromised.  Similar  precautions  must 
be  taken  in  regard  to  Irish  pro-German  propaganda. 

The  following  telegram  from  Count  von  Bernstorff  to  the 
Foreign  Office  in  Berlin  was  sent  in  September,  1916: 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  415 

"September  15:  With  reference  to  report  A.N.  two  hundred  and 
sixty-six  of  May  10,  1916.  The  embargo  conference,  in  regard  to 
whose  earlier  fruitful  cooperation  Doctor  Hale  can  give  informa- 
tion, is  just  about  to  enter  a  vigorous  campaign  to  secure  a  majority 
in  both  houses  of  Congress  favorable  to  Germany  and  requests  further 
support.  There  is  no  possibility  of  our  being  compromised.  Kequest 
telegraphic  reply." 

The  publication  of  these  letters  in  September  and  October, 
making  known  the  activity  of  German  agents  in  our  country, 
was  most  timely,  for  on  October  1  the  great  drive  for  the  Sec- 
ond Liberty  Loan  of  $3,000,000,000  began.  Again  every 
means  the  wit  of  man  could  devise  was  used  to  arouse  the 
people.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  women,  boy  scouts  and 
school  children  took  part  in  the  sale.  Subscriptions  could  be 
made  at  the  office  of  any  financial  institution,  broker,  insur- 
ance company,  department  store,  at  booths  in  the  streets,  at 
home,  in  the  hotels,  in  the  clubs,  in  the  training  camps.  In  the 
cities  the  fences  and  shop  windows  were  gay  with  posters; 
automobiles,  taxicabs,  trucks  and  wagons  bore  little  placards 
urging  every  one  to  "Buy  a  Bond."  The  postage  stamp  on 
every  letter  was  canceled  with  the  words,  "Buy  Now,  U.  S. 
Government  Bonds,  2nd  Liberty  Loan."  Former  President 
Taft,  Secretary  McAdoo,  former  Secretary  of  State  Bryan, 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  men  prominent  in  public  life  traversed 
the  country  in  a  nation-wide  speaking  campaign  to  impress  on 
the  people  the  necessity  of  buying  a  bond  at  once.  A  laundry 
company  inserted  in  each  bundle  before  it  was  sent  home  a 
printed  slip  which  read,  "Buy  Liberty  Bonds  to-day,  because 
if  the  Kaiser  wins,  good  night  shirt."  In  New  York  a  Ger- 
man U-boat,  captured  by  the  British  and  sent  over,  was  placed 
in  Central  Park,  named  "U-Buy  a  Bond"  and  became  an  office 
for  the  receipt  of  subscriptions. 

The  bonds  were  to  bear  an  annual  interest  of  four  per  cent., 
were  to  mature  at  the  end  of  twenty-five  years,  or  in  1942,  but 
might  be  redeemed  at  any  time  after  ten  years.  There  were 
three  ways  of  subscribing.  They  might  be  paid  for  in  full  at 
the  time  of  subscription,  in  which  case,  if  the  subscription  was 
not  large,  the  bonds  were  delivered.  They  might  be  bought  on 
the  Government  plan:  two  per  cent,  when  the  subscription  was 


416     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

made;  eighteen  per  cent,  on  November  15;  forty  per  cent,  on 
December  15,  1917,  and  a  like  amount  on  January  15,  1918. 
They  might  be  paid  for  in  installments  of  a  dollar  a  week  or  so 
much  a  month.  This  was  a  plan  used  by  banks  and  trust  com- 
panies and  by  great  corporations  for  their  employees. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  campaign  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$50,000,000  were  taken.  Expecting  that  the  $3,000,000,000 
offered  would  be  oversubscribed,  the  Secretary  had  announced 
that  half  the  oversubscription  would  be  taken;  but  he  now 
asked  for  offers  up  to  $5,000,000,000  that  at  least  as  much  as 
$4,000,000,000  might  be  obtained,  and  this  enormous  sum, 
$5,000,000,000,  became  the  goal  which  the  workers  sought  to 
reach  under  an  extension  of  time  to  November  1. 

When  ten  days  had  passed  and  the  subscriptions,  great  as 
they  were,  fell  short  of  what  they  should  have  been,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  made  an  appeal  in  the  form  of  a  state- 
ment* After  making  due  allowance,  he  said,  for  unreported 
amounts  the  fact  remained  that  if  the  $5,000,000,000  was  to  be 
obtained  in  the  twenty-four  working  days  which  remained  up 
to  the  first  of  November  the  daily  average  must  be  $208,- 
000,000,  whereas  it  had  been  but  $36,000,000.  To  the  first 
Liberty  Loan  there  had  been  in  round  numbers  some  5,000,000 
subscribers.  Better  organization  which  now  existed,  and  the 
large  amount  of  educational  work  which  had  been  done  ought 
to  bring  subscriptions  from  10,000,000  persons  and  corpora- 
tions. "Shall  we  be  more  tender  with  our  dollars  than  with 
the  lives  of  our  sons?"  said  the  Secretary  on  another  occa- 
sion. 

On  Saturday,  October  27,  at  midnight,  subscriptions  ceased. 
On  November  7  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  announced  up- 
wards of  9,400,000  subscribers  had  offered  to  take  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  $4,617,532,300,  an  oversubscription  of  54  per 
cent.  This  was  $1,617,532,300  more  than  the  Secretary  had 
agreed  to  take.  Why  not,  he  asked,  take  all  that  was  offered? 
Because,  was  his  answer,  the  Government  must  never  change 
the  basis  of  subscription  after  the  subscription  is  closed.  Hav- 
ing offered  to  take  one-half  of  all  above  $3,000,000,000  his 
agreement  must  be  kept,  and  $3,808,766,150  was  accepted. 

The  drive  for  the  Liberty  Loan  was  hardly  under  way  when, 


GERMAN  INTRIGUE  417 

October  6,  Congress  closed  its  memorable  session.  Never  be- 
fore had  a  Congress  dealt  with  war  issues  of  such  magnitude 
or  enacted  laws  of  such  far-reaching  consequences.  The  pas- 
sage on  April  6  of  the  joint  resolution  declaring  a  state  of  war 
with  Germany  to  exist  was  followed  before  the  month  ended 
by  the  first  Liberty  Loan  act,  and  the  act  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  midshipmen  at  the  Naval  Academy.  In  May  came  acts 
authorizing  the  Allied  Governments  to  recruit  from  their 
peoples  in  our  country;  authorizing  the  President  to  take  over 
enemy  vessels  in  our  ports;  providing  for  the  drafting  of  the 
National  Army  and  increasing  the  strength  of  the  active  list 
of  the  navy  from  87,000  to  150,000  and  of  the  Marine  Corps 
from  17,400  to  30,000.  In  June  came  the  war  appropriations 
act  providing  $3,281,094,541  for  the  needs  of  the  army  and 
navy,  a  sum  greater  than  the  National  debt  at  the  end  of  the 
Civil  War;  and  the  Espionage  Act.  The  Aviation  Act  carry- 
ing an  appropriation  of  $640,000,000  was  enacted  in  July;  the 
priority  in  Shipments  Act,  the  Food  Survey  Act  and  the  Food 
Control  Act  in  August;  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  Act  in  Sep- 
tember; and  on  the  last  days  of  the  session  the  Kevenue  Act, 
imposing  war  taxes  on  incomes  and  excess  profits ;  the  Trading 
with  the  Enemy  Act,  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Insurance  Act, 
and  the  Urgent  Deficiency  Act  carrying  the  enormous  appro- 
priation of  $5,356,666,016.93.  During  the  first  session  of  the 
65th  Congress  the  total  of  appropriations  was  $18,879,177,- 
014.96,  of  which  $7,000,000,000  was  to  meet  loans  to  the 
Allies,  to  be  repaid  by  the  Governments  to  which  the  advances 
were  made.  To  this  should  be  added  $2,511,553,928.50  con- 
tract authorizations,  making  a  total  of  $21,390,730,940.46. 


CHAPTEK  XVI 

BATIONING   AND    FIGHTING 

THESE  acts  having  been  approved  by  the  President,  steps 
to  put  them  in  force  were  promptly  taken.  By  one  proclama- 
tion November  1  was  named  as  the  day  whereon,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Food-Control  Act,  cold  storage  warehouse  own- 
ers, operators  of  grain  elevators,  warehouses,  and  other  places 
for  storing  grain,  and  sellers  of  a  long  list  of  food  products 
whose  gross  sales  exceeded  $100,000  a  year  must  obtain  licenses 
to  carry  on  their  business.  By  another  the  provisions  of  the 
Trading-with-the-Enemy  Act  were  put  in  force  and  the  War 
Trade  Board,  the  War  Trade  Council,  and  the  Censorship 
Board  to  control  all  communication  between  the  United  States 
and  foreign  countries  by  cables,  telegraph  or  mail  were  estab- 
lished. Under  this  Act  a  custodian  was  appointed  to  take  care 
of  all  property  in  the  United  States  owned  by  enemies,  or  allies 
of  enemies.  Each  enemy  or  ally  of  an  enemy  doing  business  in 
the  United  States  was  required  to  obtain  a  license  to  continue 
in  business;  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  forbidden  to 
trade  without  a  license  with  any  person  there  was  reason  to 
believe  was  an  enemy  or  an  ally  of  an  enemy ;  and  every  news- 
paper printed  in  a  foreign  language  must  furnish  to  the  Post- 
master General  English  translations  of  all  it  printed  concern- 
ing the  war,  unless  a  license  not  to  do  so  was  obtained. 

The  provision  touching  newspapers  the  Postmaster  General 
at  once  put  in  force ;  but  assured  them  that  none  need  fear  sup- 
pression unless  the  bounds  of  fair  criticism  of  the  President, 
the  Administration,  the  army,  the  navy,  the  conduct  of  the  war 
were  passed.  He  would,  he  said,  take  great  care  not  to  let 
criticism,  personally  or  politically  offensive  to  the  Administra- 
tion, affect  his  action.  But  if  newspapers  attacked  the  motives 
of  the  Government  and  thereby  encouraged  insubordination 
they  would  be  dealt  with  severely.  They  would  not  be  allowed 

418 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  419 

to  say  that  Wall  Street,  or  munition  makers,  or  any  other  spe- 
cial interest  controlled  the  Government.  Publication  of  any- 
thing intended  to  hamper  the  prosecution  of  the  war;  cam- 
paigns against  conscription,  enlistment,  sale  of  bonds,  or  col- 
lection of  the  revenue  would  not  be  tolerated.  The  policy  of 
foreign  language  newspapers  would  be  judged  by  past  utter- 
ances, not  by  newly  announced  intentions.  Copies  of  all  such 
newspapers  were  on  file  in  the  Department  and  on  the  examina- 
tion of  these  files  would  depend  their  licenses.  German  lan- 
guage newspapers  when  not  licensed  must  publish  English 
translations.  Socialist  newspapers,  unless  they  contained 
treasonable  or  seditious  matter,  would  not  be  barred  from  the 
mails.  Jn  a  few  weeks  The  Call,  a  Socialist  journal  published 
in  New  York,  was  deprived  of  its  second-class  mail  privileges. 

A  third  proclamation  put  all  bakeries  in  the  country  under 
license,  and  a  fourth  shut  out  alien  enemies  from  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  the  Panama  Zone.  They  were  forbidden  to 
ascend  into  the  air  in  a  balloon,  airplane,  airship  or  flying 
machine;  were  required  to  register;  were  ordered  not  to  come 
within  one  hundred  yards  of  any  wharf,  pier  or  dry  dock  used 
by  any  vessel  of  over  five  hundred  tons  engaged  in  the  foreign 
or  domestic  trade,  nor  within  one  hundred  yards  of  any  ware- 
house shed,  elevator,  railroad  terminal  operated  in  connection 
with  such  wharf,  or  pier,  and,  save  on  public  ferries,  were 
warned  not  to  be  found  on  any  ocean,  bay,  river,  or  other 
waters  within  three  miles  of  the  shore  line  of  the  United  States 
or  its  possessions,  nor  on  any  of  the  Great  Lakes,  their  con- 
necting waters  or  harbors.  In  a  little  while  placards  were 
posted  along  the  water  fronts  of  the  seaboard  cities  giving 
notice  in  English  and  German  to  alien  enemies  not  to  go  within 
one  hundred  yards  of  the  river  front,  and  calling  on  ail  good 
citizens  to  notify  the  United  States  Marshal  of  any  violation 
of  the  warning. 

The  President  forbade,  after  November  15,  and  during  the 
war  with  Germany,  the  manufacture,  distribution,  storage, 
use  or  possession  of  explosives  or  their  ingredients  save  as  pro- 
vided by  the  Act  of  October  6,  1917.  The  Food  Administrator 
announced  that  on  and  after  November  1  no  retailer  or  other 
dealer  who  put  excessive  prices  on  necessary  foods  should  obtain 


420      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

supplies,  and  that  no  wholesaler  or  other  handler  of  food  would 
be  allowed  to  sell  to  any  retailer  anywhere  in  our  country  who 
made  unreasonable  profits  or  bought  large  quantities  of  food 
for  speculative  purposes.  Speculation  in  butter  and  eggs  was 
ordered  to  be  stopped  on  the  exchanges  until  after  the  war,  and 
the  price  of  sugar  was  fixed,  for  many  causes,  all  produced  by 
the  war,  had  produced  a  shortage.  The  nation-wide  canning 
of  fruits  in  the  summer  and  fall  had  greatly  increased  con- 
sumption. Hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  sugar  were  shut 
up  in  Java  for  want  of  vessels  to  carry  it  away.  At  least  a 
third  of  the  world's  production  came  from  the  Central  Powers 
of  Europe  and  had  been  cut  off  since  the  war  began ;  the  western 
battlefront  passing  through  the  sugar  producing  territory  of 
Belgium  and  France  had  reduced  the  supply  still  further,  and 
had  forced  England  and  Erance  to  compete  with  us  for  the 
cane  sugar  of  Cuba.  When  the  shortage  became  known  to  the 
people  a  rush  on  the  retail  grocery  stores  in  the  eastern  cities 
followed  and  sugar  rose  to  twenty  cents  a  pound. 

Sugar  was  the  first  article  in  which  the  people  experienced 
a  shortage.  Coal  soon  followed.  As  early  as  May,  1917,  the 
Council  for  Defense  appointed  a  committee  on  coal  production 
which  called  a  meeting  of  some  four  hundred  operators  who, 
through  a  committee,  finally  fixed  the  price  of  coal  at  three 
dollars  a  ton  for  the  region  east  of  Pittsburgh  and  at  two  dollars 
and  three-quarters  to  the  west  of  that  city.  This  the  Secretary 
of  War,  as  Chairman  of  the  Council  of  Defense,  repudiated 
as  oppressive  and  until  late  in  August  the  price  of  coal  was  un- 
regulated ;  consumers  put  off  buying,  and  orders  for  millions  of 
tons  were  canceled  and  little  coal  was  moved.  In  August  the 
President  appointed  Mr.  Garfield  coal  administrator,  and  late 
in  September  by  his  order  the  price  of  coal  was  fixed  at  two 
dollars  a  ton.  Then  orders  for  coal,  increasing  in  volume  as  the 
cold  weather  approached,  came  pouring  in ;  but  the  shortage  of 
cars  and  the  congestion  of  freight  at  the  terminals,  held  there 
for  want  of  ships  to  take  it  abroad,  greatly  hindered  the  move- 
ment of  coal  from  the  mines  to  the  consumer,  and  by  Janu- 
ary 1  the  situation^  especially  in  New  England,  was  serious. 

Meantime,  in  December,  the  Government  took  over  all  the 
railroads  and  the  President  appointed  the  Secretary  of  the 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  421 

Treasury  Director  General.  By  his  order  some  1,500  cars  of 
coal  between  Harrisburg  and  New  York  were  diverted  and  sent 
northeastward.  Finding  that  the  labor  shortage  near  New 
York  made  it  impossible  to  unload  hundreds  of  cars  on  the 
New  Jersey  side  of  the  Hudson  River,  the  Mayor  of  New  York 
was  asked  to  use  the  street  cleaners  for  the  task  and  charge  the 
cost  to  the  railroads,  and  coal  was  sent  through  the  Hudson 
River  tunnel  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  The  Shipping 
Board  released  five  ships  at  Hampton  Roads  to  carry  coal  to 
'New  England,  and  at  the  Boston  .Navy  Yard  the  commandant 
was  authorized  to  give  scraps  of  timber  and  waste  wood  to 
the  poor.  To  relieve  the  congestion  and  so  make  way  for  food 
and  fuel  export  traffic  was  ordered  to  southern  ports,  and  pas- 
senger trains  were  annulled  by  hundreds  that  their  locomotives 
might  be  used  for  other  purposes,  for  the  congestion,  it  was 
claimed,  was  caused  by  the  overwhelming  amount  of  freight 
due  to  war  industries.  To  make  matters  worse  intensely  cold 
weather  almost  put  a  stop  to  coal  mining.  In  Philadelphia  the 
use  of  gas  for  warming  homes  was  so  great  that  the  United 
Gas  Improvement  Company  issued  a  warning.  It  might,  tem- 
porarily, be  unable  to  meet  the  great  increase  in  consumption 
"due  to  cold  weather  and  the  shortage  of  the  domestic  coal 
supply."  There  was  danger  of  some  burners  going  out  when 
the  demand  for  gas  was  heaviest  and  the  gas  coming  on  again 
later.  Consumers  must  not  go  to  sleep  with  any  gas  burning 
nor  keep  a  burner  lighted  unless  some  one  was  in  the  room. 
Such  was  the  suffering  that  hundreds  of  people  unable  to  get 
coal  any  other  way  stormed  the  yards  of  dealers  who  had  any 
and  emptied  cars  standing  on  the  tracks.  Churches  were  urged 
to  consolidate ;  threats  were  made  to  close  theaters  and  motion 
picture  houses,  and  the  Director  of  'Supplies  was  forced  to 
seize  three  carloads  of  coal  for  the  use  of  fire  and  police  sta- 
tions. Office  buildings  were  required  to  use  no  steam  for  heat- 
ing between  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  and  seven  in  the 
morning;  and  none  on  Sundays  and  holidays  save  enough  to 
keep  water  pipes  from  freezing ;  electric  lights  in  hallways  and 
offices  were  ordered  to  be  cut  twenty-five  per  cent,  all  outside 
lighting  discontinued  and  only  enough  used  in  show  windows 
to  protect  property.  So  great  was  the  shortage  that,  January  15, 


422     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

there  were  in  the  harbor  of  ISTew  York  thirty-seven  ships  unable 
to  sail  for  France  for  want  of  coal.  At  Indianapolis  theaters, 
saloons  and  poolrooms  were  ordered  closed  until  further  notice. 
In  Michigan,  the  State  Fuel  Administrator  forbade  churches 
to  be  heated  more  than  six  hours  a  week,  or  office  buildings, 
stores  and  places  of  business  more  than  nine  hours  each  week- 
day, and  closed  theaters  and  motion  picture  houses  on  Mon- 
days and  Tuesdays.  In  Chicago,  where  a  heavy  snow  fall  pre- 
vented coal  coming  in  or  empty  cars  going  out,  it  was  announced 
by  the  County  Fuel  Administrator  that  factories  and  indus- 
trial plants  would  have  to  shut  down  in  five  or  six  days  if  no  re- 
lief came. 

Mr.  Garfield,  January  16,  ordered  that  in  the  vast  region 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf,  every  indus- 
trial plant,  those  making  munitions  included,  should  shut  down 
from  January  18  to  22,  both  days  included,  and  that  no  fuel 
should  be  burned  save  for  the  manufacture  of  perishable  foods, 
the  printing  of  daily  newspapers,  the  current  numbers  of  maga- 
zines and  periodicals.  On  ten  consecutive  Mondays,  beginning 
January  28  and  ending  March  25,  no  fuel,  save  to  prevent  the 
freezing  of  water  pipes,  could  be  burned  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  heat  for  any  business  or  professional  offices,  unless 
used  by  the  United  States,  State,  County  or  Municipal  govern- 
ments, transportation  companies,  physicians,  dentists,  banks 
or  trust  companies;  nor  for  theaters,  moving  picture  houses, 
bowling  alleys,  billiard  rooms,  dance  halls  -  or  any  place  of 
amusement ;  nor  for  stores,  business  houses  or  buildings  except 
for  the  purpose  of  selling  food,  drugs  and  medical  supplies. 
In  food  shops  heat  might  be  maintained  until  twelve  o'clock 
noon,  and  in  drug  stores  throughout  the  day  and  evening. 
These  restrictions,  it  was  estimated,  would  save  30,000,000  tons 
of  coal  and  bring  the  supply  almost  up  to  normal. 

Bitter  opposition  was  at  once  aroused.  The  United  States 
Senate  adopted  a  resolution  requesting  Mr.  Garfield  to  "delay 
for  five  days  the  order  suspending  the  operation  of  industrial 
plants  in  portions  of  the  United  States  in  order  that  protests 
may  be  heard,  investigation  made  and  information  presented." 
Jn  the  House  a  resolution  expressing  the  "regret  of  the  House" 
at  the  "summary  action"  and  appealing  to  the  President  to 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  429 

interfere  was  not  acted  on.  Protests  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  affected  came  to  Washington.  Lithographers  pro- 
tested to  the  Liberty  Loan  publicity  bureau  in  the  Treasury 
Department  that  the  Third  Liberty  Loan  compaign  would 
suffer  from  the  loss  of  working  time  on  the  posters.  Theatri- 
cal men  sent  a  committee  to  see  the  President.  Motion  picture 
men  protested  to  members  of  Congress.  Closing  the  "movies" 
in  the  great  industrial  centers  would  lead  to  disturbances  be- 
cause thousands  of  idle  workmen  would  have  no  amusements. 
In  their  behalf  the  order  was  changed.  Some  plants  engaged 
in  work  for  the  army  and  navy  were  made  exempt. 

During  the  five  heatless  days  every  effort  was  made  to  move 
coal.  Empty  cars  were  rushed  to  the  mines.  Long  trains  of 
full  cars  were  hurried  to  the  shipping  ports  and  by  January  22 
each  of  the  thirty-seven  ships  in  New  York  Harbor  had  re- 
ceived its  supply  of  fuel.  Freight  congestion  was  relieved,  and 
that  it  might  if  possible  be  ended  the  Director  General  of  Rail- 
roads laid  an  embargo  on  all  new  shipments  of  freight  over 
the  Pennsylvania  and  Reading  System,  over  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  east  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  over  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  east  of  Pittsburgh.  Fuel,  food  and  some  war 
material  were  exempt  from  the  embargo. 

The  President  on  January  18  in  a  statement  defended  the 
action  of  Mr.  Garfield.  "This  war,"  he  said,  "calls  for  many 
sacrifices,  and  sacrifices  of  the  sort  called  for  by  this  order  are 
infinitely  less  than  sacrifices  of  life  which  might  otherwise  be 
involved.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  get  the  ships  away,  it 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  relieve  the  congestion  at  the  ports 
and  upon  the  railways,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  move  great 
quantities  of  food,  and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  our  people 
should  be  warm  in  their  homes,  if  nowhere  else,  and  halfway 
measures  would  not  have  accomplished  the  desired  end." 

A  series  of  snowstorms  resulting  in  a  fall  of  fourteen  inches 
of  snow  at  the  end  of  January  blocked  all  traffic  on  the  coal 
roads  of  Pennsylvania,  cut  down  the  already  insufficient  supply 
to  Philadelphia  and  forced  the  local  coal  administrator  to  seize 
some  12,000  tons  destined  for  Florida  and  other  places  in  order 
to  relieve  the  suffering  and  sickness  among  the  poor.  Four 
hundred  thousand  tons  of  coal,  it  was  reported,  were  in  cars 


424     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

held  ice  bound  on  the  tracks.  Some  6,000  coal  cars  were 
reported  snow  blocked  between  Harrisburg  and  Pittsburgh  and 
men  could  not  be  obtained  to  set  them  free.  Unable  to  move 
more  than  a  few  thousand  tons  of  coal  into  Philadelphia  each 
day,  the  Fuel  Administrator  ordered  that  none  should  be  deliv- 
ered save  to  homes,  hospitals,  food  stores  and  hotels.  All  other 
stores  must  do  without  even  if  they  had  to  close.  Early  in 
February  milder  weather  brought  some  relief,  and  by  the  tenth 
of  the  month  record-breaking  shipments  were  made  to  the  West 
and  the  East,  and  by  the  thirteenth  the  only  part  of  the  coun- 
try suffering  from  a  shortage  of  coal  was  New  England.  Fuel 
Administrator  Garfield  therefore  on  that  day  announced  the 
suspension  of  the  heatless  •  Monday  order,  with  a  warning  that 
it  might  be  resumed ;  but  State  administrators  were  authorized 
to  continue  it  if  they  thought  fit. 

While  the  fuel  shortage  was  at  its  height  the  Food  Admin- 
istrator called  for  further  conservation  of  wheat  flour.  In 
order,  he  said,  that  100,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  might  be 
exported  it  was  necessary  to  cut  down  consumption  to  thirty 
per  cent,  below  normal.  In  his  last  cable  Lord  Khondda  said : 
"Unless  you  are  able  to  send  the  Allies  at  least  75,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat  over  and  above  what  you  have  exported  up  to 
January  1,  and  in  addition  to  the  exportable  surplus  from 
Canada,  I  cannot  take  the  responsibility  of  assuring  our  people 
that  there  will  be  food  enough  to  win  the  war.  Imperative 
necessity  compels  me  to  cable  you  in  this  blunt  way."  "We  have 
replied,"  said  Mr.  Hoover:  "We  will  export  every  grain  that 
the  American  people  save  from  their  normal  consumption.  We 
believe  our  people  will  not  fail  to  meet  the  emergency."  But 
we  must  save  more  than  the  Allies  needed.  Belgium  must  have 
15,000,000  bushels  or  starve,  and  10,000,000  bushels  mus4;  go 
to  Cuba  and  neutrals  on  whom  we  depend  for  food  supplies. 
It  was  estimated  that  30,000,000  bushels  had  been  saved  from 
the  last  harvest.  We  must,  therefore,  reduce  wheat  consump- 
tion to  thirty  per  cent,  below  normal  until  next  harvest.  Beef 
must  be  cut  to  fifteen  per  cent,  and  pork  twenty  per  cent,  and 
sugar  ten  per  cent. 

The  Food  Administrator  accordingly  ordered  that  begin- 
ning Monday,  January  28,  all  licensed  bakers  must  mix  a 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  425 

minimum  of  five  per  cent,  of  other  cereals  with  flour  in  making 
Victory  Bread  and  rolls,  and  increase  the  minimum  to  twenty 
per  cent,  on  or  before  February  24.  No  city  consumer  should 
be  sold  more  than  twenty-four  pounds,  and  no  country  con- 
sumer more  than  forty-eight  pounds  of  wheat  flour  at  one  time, 
and  to  get  any  must  buy  at  the  same  time  some  substitute  flour 
equal  to  one-sixth  the  amount  of  wheat  flour  purchased.  These 
substitutes  were  cornmeal,  cornstarch,  corn  flour,  rice,  rice 
flour,  oatmeal,  rolled  oats,  hominy,  barley  flour,  potato  flour, 
bean  flour,  sweet  potato  flour,  buckwheat  flour,  corn  grits,  and 
no  others.  Hotels,  restaurants,  and  all  public  eating  places 
were  expected  to  observe  meatless  Mondays  and  Wednesdays, 
and  one  wheatless  meal  each  day  when  nothing  containing 
wheat  should  be  used.  A  like  observance  was  urged  on  all 
homes.  To  fix  the  prices  of  food  was  not  in  the  power  of  the 
Administrator;  but  wholesale  grocers  who  charged  exorbitant 
prices  had  their  licenses  temporarily  revoked  and  could  not  sell 
any  of  the  twenty  articles  of  food  which  could  be  sold  only 
under  license. 

Even  this  reduction  was  found  not  enough  and  March  23 
a  further  saving  of  wheat  was  ordered.  Householders  were  not 
to  use  more  than  one  and  a  half  pounds  of  wheat  products  per 
person  per  week,  which  was  a  ration  of  one  and  three-quarters 
pounds  of  Victory  Bread  made  with  the  proper  proportion  of 
wheat  substitutes,  and  one-half  pound  of  flour,  macaroni, 
crackers,  pastry,  cakes,  or  wheat  breakfast  cereals  separately 
or  combined.  Hotels,  restaurants  and  public  eating  places, 
besides  observing  wheatless  Mondays  and  Wednesdays,  must 
not  serve  to  any  one  guest,  at  any  one  meal,  macaroni,  bread- 
stuffs,  crackers,  pastry,  pies,  cake,  or  breakfast  cereals  con- 
taining in  the  aggregate  more  than  two  ounces  of  wheat  flour, 
nor  could  they  buy  more  than  six  pounds  of  wheat  products 
for  each  ninety  meals  served.  Retailers  were  forbidden  to  sell 
more  than  one-eighth  of  a  barrel  of  flour  to  a  town  customer, 
nor  more  than  one-quarter  to  a  country  buyer,  nor  any  at  all 
unless  an  equal  weight  of  substitutes  was  purchased.  Bakers 
and  grocers  must  cut  down  the  amount  of  Victory  Bread  sold 
by  delivery  to  three-quarter  pound  loaves  where  one  pound 
loaves  were  formerly  sold,  and  not  buy  more  than  seventy  per 


426     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

cent,  of  the  average  monthly  amount  bought  in  the  four  months 
prior  to  the  first  of  March.  The  minimum  of  substitute  flour 
having  reached  twenty  per  cent,  on  February  24,  was  now  in- 
creased to  twenty-five  per  cent.,  which  must  be  reached  by 
April  14.  The  purpose  of  the  order  was  to  reduce  the  con- 
sumption of  wheat  flour  at  least  fifty  per  cent. 

Speaking  a  few  days  later  to  some  seven  hundred  hotel 
men  gathered  at  Washington,  Mr.  Hoover  asked  that  no  wheat 
be  used.  The  last  harvest,  he  said,  was  less  than  estimated. 
Shipping  troubles  had  caused  greater  delay  in  feeding  the  Allies 
than  was  foreseen,  .and  the  Argentine  crop  had  not  been  as 
large,  nor  reached  the  market  as  soon,  as  was  expected.  There- 
upon the  hotel  men  pledged  themselves  to  drop  all  wheat  prod- 
ucts from  their  menus. 

Nearly  ten  months  had  now  passed  since  our  entrance  into 
the  war,  and  our  sailors  and  soldiers  had  already  begun  to  do 
their  part.  Twenty-eight  days  after  the  declaration  of  war  a 
fleet  of  destroyers  reached  a  British  port  to  aid  in  the  patrol  of 
European  waters,  and  since  that  time  our  warships  had  been 
busy  day  and  night  convoying  troops,  supplies  and  ammunition. 
The  losses  had  been  few  and  slight.  In  October  the  Cassin 
was  torpedoed  in  the  war  zone  and  badly  damaged,  but  made 
port.  One  man  was  killed  and  five  wounded.  A  few  days 
later  the  transport  Antilles  was  sunk  and  seventy  lives  lost. 
The  transport  Finland  when  homeward  bound  from  a  French 
port  early  in  November  was  torpedoed,  but  returned  to  port. 
Nine  men  lost  their  lives.  Towards  the  close  of  the  month  two 
United  States  destroyers  captured  a  German  U-boat  and  all  its 
crew.  But  the  water  cocks  were  opened  by  the  Germans  and 
the  submarine  sank  while  the  captors  were  towing  it  to  port. 
In  November  the  patrol  boat  Alcedo  was  torpedoed  and  sank. 
One  officer  and  twenty  men  were  killed  or  drowned.  The 
destroyer  Chauncey  while  on  patrol  duty  in  the  war  zone  was 
sunk  in  collision  with  an  unnamed  vessel  on  November  19  and 
twenty-one  men  were  lost.  December  6  the  destroyer  Jacob 
Jones  was  torpedoed  and  sank  almost  immediately,  sixty-nine 
officers  and  men  were  reported  missing. 

Most  fortunately  the  loss  of  life  occasioned  by  these  disas- 
ters was  in  each  case  comparatively  small;  but  the  day  was 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  427 

near  when  a  transport  crowded  with  our  soldiers  was  attacked 
and  sunk  by  an  unseen  TJ-boat  and  more  than  a  hundred  per- 
ished. Towards  dusk  one  day  in  early  February,  as  the  Cunard 
liner  Tuscania,  carrying  2,179  American  soldiers,  was  passing 
along  the  north  coast  of  Ireland  within  sight  of  land  she  was 
struck  amidship  by  a  torpedo,  but  did  not  immediately  sink. 
The  troops  on  board  were  chiefly  National  Guardsmen  from 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  engineers,  men  belonging  to  three 
aero  squadrons,  parts  of  three  regiments  of  infantry  and  For- 
estry Engineers  recruited  in  Maine  and  the  lumber  districts 
of  the  Northwest.  Two  British  destroyers  from  the  convoy 
were  promptly  on  the  scene  and  by  them  and  by  trawlers  the 
rescued  were  taken  to  Bancranna  and  Larne.  How  many  were 
lost  has  not  been  finally  stated.  By  the  end  of  a  week  164 
bodies  had  been  washed  ashore  on  the  coast  of  Scotland,  and 
buried,  and  more  were  recovered  as  time  passed.  So  far  our 
warfare  on  the  sea  seemed  but  an  unbroken  record  of  disaster, 
for  the  great  work  the  navy  was  doing  convoying  fleets  laden 
with  troops,  ammunition  and  food  for  the  Allies,  and,  it  may  be, 
sinking  submarines  and  patrolling  some  parts  of  the  coasts  of 
Great  Britain,  were  not  made  public  for  good  and  sufficient 
reasons. 

Before  the  first  year  of  our  war  for  democracy  had  rolled 
around  the  man  power  of  the  navy  had  been  increased  from 
4,792  officers  and  102,500  men  to  20,600  officers  and  329,300 
men;  1,275  vessels  for  every  sort  of  service,  mine  sweeping, 
mine  laying,  transport,  patrol,  submarine  chasing,  had  been 
put  in  commission;  the  German  vessels  in  our  ports  when  the 
war  began — damaged,  their  engineers  believed,  beyond  mend- 
ing for  at  least  nine  months — had  been  repaired  in  less  than  six 
and  used  to  carry  troops  to  France ;  contracts  had  been  let  for 
949  new  vessels,  and  Germany,  because  of  our  naval  activity, 
had  been  forced  to  draw  a  war  zone  around  -the  Azore  Islands. 

"The  hostile  Governments,"  her  memorandum  said,  "are 
endeavoring  by  the  intensification  of  the  hunger  blockage 
against  neutral  countries,  to  force  out  to  sea  neutral  cargo 
space  which  is  keeping  in  port  and  to  press  them  into  their 
service. 

"As  hostile  shipping  and  shipping  sailing  in  hostile  interest 


428     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

are  being  supplemented  by  violent  measures,  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, in  its  struggle  against  Great  Britain's  domination  of 
violence,  which  tramples  under  foot  all  rights,  especially  those 
of  smaller  nations,  finds  itself  forced  to  extend  the  field  of 
operation  of  its  submarines." 

Therefore,  she  established  a  barred  zone  around  the  Azores 
"which  have  become  in  military  and  economic  respects  impor- 
tant hostile  bases  of  Atlantic  navigation,"  and  closed  "a  channel 
to  Greece  hitherto  left  open  in  the  'Mediterranean,  as  it  has 
been  used  by  the  Venizelos  Government,  not  so  much  for  the 
supply  of  the  Greek  population  with  foodstuffs  as  for  the  trans- 
port of  arms  and  ammunition."  *  The  United  States,  a  Ger- 
man Vice  Admiral  declared,  had  "established  herself  on  the 
Azores  and  had  constructed  fortifications  at  Punta  del  Garda." 

On  land  the  record  of  our  little  army  in  France  has  been 
most  inspiring.  The  first  shot  from  our  men  in  the  trenches 
was  fired  on  October  27,  1917.  A  few  weeks  later  the  shell 
case  was  presented  to  the  President  as  a  fitting  memento  of  the 
great  event.  The  first  trench  fighting  occurred  just  before 
dawn  on  the  morning  of  November  3,  when  a  small  detachment 
of  Americans  in  a  front  line  instruction  salient  were  attacked 
by  a  superior  force  of  Germans,  and  the  salient  cut  off  from 
the  rest  of  the  men  by  a  heavy  barrage.  The  fighting  then  be- 
came hand  to  hand  and  in  the  course  of  it  three  Americans 
were  killed,  five  wounded  and  eleven  taken  prisoners.  The 
dead  were  buried  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  overlooking  a  little  vil- 
lage somewhere  in  France,  and  the  site  a  few  months  later  was 
marked  by  a  stone  monument  bearing  the  name  and  regiment 
of  each  of  the  dead,  and  the  inscription:  "Here  lie  the  first 
soldiers  of  the  great  Republic  of  the  United  States  who  died  on 
the  soil  of  France  for  justice  and  liberty,  November  8,  1917." 
Fifteen  officers  and  men,  the  dead  included,  cited  by  the  French 
General  commanding  the  sector  were,  a  few  days  later,  deco- 

1  The  new  barred  zone  was  bounded  thus :  "From  39  degrees  north 
latitude  and  17  west  longitude,  to  44  degrees  north  latitude  and  27  degrees 
45  minutes  west  longitude,  to  44  north  latitude  and  34  west  longitude, 
to  42  degrees  30  minues  north  latitude  and  37  west  longitude,  to  37  north 
latitude  and  37  west  longitude,  to  30  north  latitude  and  26  west  longitude, 
to  34  north  latitude  and  20  west  longitude,  and  thence  back  to  the  start- 
ing point." 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  429 

rated  with  the  French  War  Cross.  When  presenting  the 
decorations  the  General  said : 

<:On  the  night  of  November  2-3,  this  company,  which  was 
in  the  line  for  the  first  time,  met  an  extremely  violent  bom- 
bardment despite  which  it  seized  arms  and  offered  such  stub- 
born resistance  that  the  enemy,  though  numerically  superior, 
was  obliged  to  retire." 

A  graphic  picture  of  the  prisoners  is  given  by  a  German 
correspondent  of  a  Berlin  newspaper: 

"There  they  stood  before  us — these  young  men  from  the 
land  of  liberty.  They  were  sturdy  and  sportsmanlike  in  build. 
Good-natured  smiles  radiated  from  their  blue  eyes,  and  they 
are  quite  surprised  that  we  did  not  propose  to  shoot  them  down, 
as  they  had  been  led  in  the  French  training  camp  to  believe  we 
would  do. 

"They  know  no  reply  to  our  query,  'Why  does  the  United 
States  carry  on  war  against  Germany  ?'  The  sinking  of  Ameri- 
can ships  by  U-boats,  which  was  the  favorite  pretext,  sounds  a 
trifle  stale.  One  prisoner  expressed  the  opinion  that  we  had 
treated  Belgium  rather  badly.  Another  asserted  that  it  was 
Lafayette  who  brought  America  French  aid  in  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence, and  because  of  this  the  United  States  would  now 
stand  by  France." 

November  30,  when  the  Germans  attacked  west  of  Cambrai, 
American  army  engineers  working  on  the  British  railways 
were  caught  in  the  turning  movement,  lay  in  shell  holes  while 
the  British  fired  over  them,  and  when  the  Germans  were  pushed 
back  took  arms  and  joined  in  the  fight.  "We  must,"  says  the 
French  communication,  "remark  on  the  conduct  of  certain 
American  soldiers,  pioneers  and  workmen  on  the  military  rail- 
road in  the  sector  of  the  German  attack  west  of  Cambrai  on 
November  30.  They  exchanged  their  picks  and  shovels  for 
rifles  and  cartridges  and  fought  beside  the  English.  Many 
died  thus  bravely,  arms  in  hand,  before  the  invader.  All  helped 
to  repulse  the  enemy.  There  is  not  a  single  person  who  saw 
them  at  work  who  does  not  render  warm  praise  to  the  coolness, 
discipline  and  courage  of  these  improvised  combatants." 

"Those  killed  were  Corporal  James  D.  Gresham,  Evansville,  Indiana; 
Private  Thomas  F.  Enright,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;  and  Private  Merle 
D.  Hay,  Glidden,  Iowa. 


430     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Towards  the  end  of  January  the  War  Department  permit- 
ted it  to  be  known  that  our  troops  were  occupying  front  line 
trenches  in  a  certain  sector,  but  did  not  state  where.  A  corre- 
spondent of  the  Associated  Press  in  February  announced  that 
the  sector  was  northwest  of  Toul  on  the  south  side  of  the 
St.  Mihiel  salient.  A  writer  in  the  Paris  Temps  described  the 
place  as  in  the  Woevre  region.  It  was,  he  said,  a  low  plain  shut 
in  by  the  highlands  of  the  Meuse,  and  the  hills  of  the  Moselle, 
covered  at  that  season  of  the  year  by  swamps  and  pools,  imprac- 
ticable for  the  movements  of  troops  and  most  suitable  for  the 
Americans  to  learn  by  experience  from  limited  daily  actions. 
One  such  action  occurred  on  the  night  of  February  9  when  a 
patrol  was  ambushed  in  No  Man's  Land  by  a  superior  force 
of  the  enemy  who  cried  "Kamerad"  and  then  opened  fire  and 
cut  to  pieces  the  patrol. 

And  now  attack  followed  attack  in  rapid  succession.  Feb- 
ruary 14,  east  of  Rheims  in  the  Champagne,  American  troops 
took  part  in  a  bombardment  preparatory  to  a  French  attack  on 
the  German  lines  between  Tahure  and  the  Butte  de  Mesnil.  On 
the  following  day  our  troops  were  bombarded  .with  gas  shells, 
and  on  February  23  they  took  part  with  the  French  in  a  raid 
in  the  Chemin  des  Dames  sector.  Thus  it  became  known  that 
our  men  were  on  the  front  line  in  the  St.  Mihiel,  Champagne 
and  Chemin  des  Dames  sectors.  February  26  there  was  another 
gas  attack  in  which  some  sixty  Americans  were  injured  before 
they  could  adjust  their  masks.  A  fight  on  March  1  showed  a 
force  of  our  men  were  near  Chavignon,  north  of  the  western 
end  of  Chemin  des  Dames  sector,  and  another  on  March  6  that 
they  were  east  of  Luneville  in  a  sector  in  Lorraine.  Our  losses 
on  land  and  sea,  from  the  time  the  first  contingent  landed  in 
France,  as  given  out  by  the  Department  of  War,  March  15,  were 
1,722.  Of  these  136  had  been  killed  in  action,  237  lost  at  sea, 
and  641  had  died  of  disease;  475  had  been  wounded,  21  cap- 
tured, 14  were  missing,  6  had  been  gassed,  and  26  had  died  of 
wounds.  A  variety  of  causes  accounted  for  the  deaths  of  the 
others. 

Secretary  of  War  Baker  and  a  staff  of  seven,  meanwhile, 
had  quietly  slipped  away  and  reached  France.  He  came,  he 
told  the  French,  to  confer  with  General  Pershing,  visit  the 


RATIONING  AND  FIGHTING  431 

American  Expeditionary  Force,  inspect  its  lines  of  transporta- 
tion, storage  and  supply  system,  and  learn  how  America  could 
most  effectively  supply  her  own  army  and  those  of  her  Allies. 

Support  was  badly  needed,  for  on  March  21,  1918,  the  Ger- 
mans began  their  great  drive  in  Picardy.  At  five  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  that  day  a  terrific  bombardment  of  the  British 
was  begun  along  a  fifty-mile  front  stretching  from  southeast 
of  Arras  to  La  Fere,  and  the  wonderful  battle  of  Picardy 
opened.  The  story  of  the  weeks  of  carnage  that  followed  can- 
not be  told.  It  is  enough  to  remember  that  the  attempt  to  drive 
a  wedge  between  the  French  and  British  armies  at  their  point 
of  union  failed;  that  the  attempt  to  drive  the  British  from 
Arras  and  Vimy  Ridge  failed;  and  that  the  attempt  to  over- 
whelm the  British  army  in  Flanders  and  reach  the  Channel 
ports  was  checked. 

As  the  battle  raged  and  the  Allied  armies  were  forced 
westward  and  southward  day  by  day  our  troops  began  to  play 
their  part.  March  25,  when  the  British  had  been  driven  west 
of  Bapaume,  Peronne  and  Ham,  General  Pershing  reported 
that  in  this  desperate  fighting  three  companies  belonging  to  two 
regiments  of  American  engineers  had  been  engaged.  A  Ger- 
man War  Office  statement  gave  the  locality  as  Chauny  and  the 
Crozat  Canal.  Busy  with  Canadians  and  under  Canadian 
command  in  construction  work  back  of  the  lines,  they  became 
fighting  men  as  the  Germans  came  on,  took  their  place  in  the 
line  and,  though  forced  to  fall  back,  fought  bravely  until  some 
place  near  Noyon  was  reached  where  they  were  given  time  to 
rest  and  reequip.  By  March  28  the  Germans  had  taken  Albert 
and  Montdidier,  and  on  that  day  General  Pershing  called  on 
General  Foch  at  headquarters  and  offered  him  all  the  American 
troops  in  France.  The  American  people,  he  was  reported  by  a 
Paris  newspaper  to  have  said,  would  consider  it  a  great  honor 
if  their  troops  were  engaged  in  the  present  battle,  the  greatest 
battle  in  history.  He  came  to  ask  it  in  the  name  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  Infantry,  artillery,  aviation,  all  that  we  had  was 
at  the  disposal  of  General  Foch  to  do  with  as  he  would.  Sec- 
retary Baker,  then  at  American  headquarters  in  France,  de- 
clared he  was  delighted  at  General  Pershing's  prompt  and 
effective  action.  General  Foch  placed  the  offer  before  the 


432     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

French  War  Council  at  the  front,  and  March  31  an  official  note 
announced  that  the  American  troops  would  fight  side  by  side 
with  British  and  French  troops  and  that  "the  Star  Spangled 
Banner  will  float  beside  the  French  and  English  flags  in  the 
plains  of  Picardy." 

On  the  evening  of  March  27  at  a  dinner  given  at  the  Lotos 
Club  in  New  York  City,  Lord  Reading,  British  High  Commis- 
sioner to  the  United  States,  read  an  appeal  to  the  people  of  our 
country  from  the  Prime  Minister,  Lloyd  George. 

"We  are  at  the  crisis  of  the  war,  attacked  by  an  immense 
superiority  of  German  troops,"  said  the  Premier  in  his  mes- 
sage. "Our  army  has  been  forced  to  retire.  The  retirement 
has  been  carried  out  methodically  before  the  pressure  of  a 
steady  succession  of  fresh  German  reserves,  which  are  suffer- 
ing enormous  losses. 

"The  situation  is  being  faced  with  splendid  courage  and 
resolution.  The  dogged  pluck  of  our  troops  has  for  the  moment 
checked  the  ceaseless  onrush  of  the  enemy,  and  the  French  have 
now  joined  in  the  struggle.  But  this  battle,  the  greatest  and 
most  momentous  in  the  history  of  the  world,  is  only  just  begin- 
ning. Throughout  it  the  French  and  British  are  buoyed  with 
the  knowledge  that  the  great  Republic  of  the  West  will  neglect 
no  effort  which  can  hasten  its  troops  and  its  ships  to  Europe. 

"In  war,  time  is  vital.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
importance  of  getting  American  reinforcements  across  the 
Atlantic  in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time." 

The  appeal  was  heard  and  for  many  weeks  to  come  thou- 
sands on  thousands  of  our  men  were  rushed  across  the  ocean 
and  by  early  May  500,000  were  in  France. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

• 

INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE 

ABROAD,  as  the  autumn  of  1917  drew  to  a  close,  the  tide 
of  war  set  strongly  against  the  Allies.  Great  victories  had, 
indeed,  been  won  by  the  French  in  October  along  a  seven-mile 
front  near  Soissons  and  the  enemy  forced  to  give  up  his  hold 
on  the  Chemin  des  Dames.  (In  Flanders  in  November,  after 
weeks  of  desperate  fighting,  the  British  gained  possession  of  the 
Passchendaele  Ridge,  broke  the  Hindenburg  line  along  a  thirty- 
two  mile  front  from  St.  Quentin  to  the  river  Scarpe,  and  pene- 
trated the  German  defenses  for  a  depth  of  more  than  six 
miles  to  the  outskirts  of  Cambrai,  and  were  then  forced  to  yield 
much  of  the  ground  so  gallantly  won.  In  December  the  Allied 
and  neutral  Christian  world  heard  with  delight  that  Jerusalem 
was  in  British  hands.  But  elsewhere  matters  had  gone  badly. 
The  army  of  Italy  had  suffered  a  severe  defeat,  and  Russia 
had  abandoned  the  Allies. 

The  Italian  front  in  October  stretched  from  the  Gulf  of 
Trieste  northward  to  the  Julian  Alps  and  westward  through 
the  Carnic  Alps.  But  October  23  the  Austro-German  army 
opened  an  attack  on  the  front  in  the  Julian  Alps,  broke 
through  and  forced  back  the  whole  eastern  front  from  the 
Carnic  Alps  to  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  November  2  the 
pursuing  Austro-Germans  reached  the  Tagliamento  River; 
November  8  they  crossed  the  Livenza  River,  and  November  13 
were  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Piave.  There  the  retreat 
ended  and  there,  when  the  year  closed,  the  enemy  was  still  held. 
In  Russia  the  radical  Socialists,  the  Bolsheviki  or  Maximalists, 
November  7,  overthrew  the  Provisional  Government  and  put 
the  peasants  and  workingmen  in  control.  Premier  Kerensky 
fled  and  the  Workingmen's  and  Soldiers'  Congress  adopted 
resolutions  declaring  for  "an  immediate  peace,  without  annexa- 
tion and  without  indemnities" ;  proclaimed  "its  decision  to  sign 

433 


434,     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

peace  terms  which  will  bring  this  war  to  an  end"  on  the  basis 
of  no  annexations,  no  indemnities,  and  summoned  all  belliger- 
ents to  do  the  same.  November  20  the  Council  of  "The 
People's  Commissaries,"  with  Lenine  as  President,  Trotsky 
Commissary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  Krylenko  of  War,  an- 
nounced that  by  order  of  the  All  Russian  Workmen's  and  Sol- 
diers' Congress  the  Council  of  The  People's  Commissaries  had 
assumed  power  and  that  they  were  in  duty  bound  "to  offer  all 
peoples  and  their  respective  Governments  an  immediate  armis- 
tice on  all  fronts  for  the  purpose  of  opening  negotiations  imme- 
diately for  the  conclusion  of  a  democratic  peace."  A  formal 
offer  of  an  armistice  would  therefore  be  sent  without  delay 
"to  all  the  belligerents,  enemy  and  ally."  The  "citizen  com- 
mander-in-chief"  was  then  ordered  "to  approach  the  com- 
manding authorities  of  the  enemy  armies  with  an  offer  of  a 
cessation  of  hostile  activities  for  the  purpose  of  opening  peace 
pourparlers." 

To  this  order  General  Dukhonin,  Commander-in-Chief ,  made 
no  reply,  was  promptly  deprived  of  command  and  a  fortnight 
later  was  thrown  from  a  moving  train  and  killed. 

"What,"  said  a  representative  of  the  Associated  Press  to 
Trotsky,  "are  the  plans  and  intentions  of  your  Government?" 
"An  immediate  publication,"  was  the  reply,  "of  all  secret 
treaties  and  the  abolition  of  all  secret  diplomacy;  an  offer  of 
an  immediate  armistice  on  all  fronts  for  the  conclusion  of  a 
democratic  peace;  transfer  of  all  lands  to  the  peasants;  State 
control  of  all  industries;  delivery  of  all  authority  to  local 
Soldiers'  and  Workingmen's  deputies;  the  meeting  of  a  con- 
stituent assembly.  The  offer  of  a  peace  has  already  been  made ; 
the  decree  transferring  the  land  to  the  peasants  has  already 
been  issued;  authority  has  already  been  assumed  by  Soldiers' 
and  Workingmen's  deputies  in  many  important  places." 

"What,"  he  was  asked,  "will  Russia  do  if  her  allies  refuse 
to  enter  into  negotiations  for  peace  ?"  "The  allied  people  will 
support  us  against  their  Governments,"  was  the  answer.  "Does 
Russia  think  a  separate  peace  with  Germany  is  possible?"  he 
was  asked,  and  replied,  "We  are  against  a  separate  peace  with 
Germany,  we  are  for  universal  peace  with  all  the  European 
nations."  "What  will  the  Government  do  if  Germany  refuses 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  435 

to  negotiate,  will  it  continue  the  war  ?"  "We  rely  on  the  Ger- 
man army  and  the  working  classes  to  make  a  continuation  of 
the  war  impossible." 

The  Russian  Ambassador  at  Washington  at  once  repudiated 
the  Bolshevist  Government  and  announced  his  intention  to  go 
on  with  his  duties  until  the  United  States  Government  recog- 
nized a  successor.  Mr.  Lansing  made  no  statement  of  the 
views  of  the  Administration. 

All  Russia  was  now  in  ferment  and  turmoil.  But  that 
made  no  difference  to  the  Bolshevist  Government,  and  Decem- 
ber 1  peace  delegates  appeared  before  the  German  front,  were 
blindfolded  and  escorted  to  von  Hoffmeister,  Divisional  Com- 
mander, who,  under  authority  from  his  Chief,  agreed  that  nego- 
tiations for  an  armistice  should  be  opened  at  Brest-Litovsk 
headquarters  of  the  German  Commander  on  December  2.  At 
that  conference  a  suspension  of  hostilities,  for  a  period  of  ten 
days,  along  the  entire  front  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea 
was  concluded  and  went  into  effect  on  the  eighth.  The  time 
was  to  be  used  to  arrange  an  armistice  which  was  to  be  imme- 
diately followed  by  negotiations  for  peace. 

Trotsky  now  called  on  the  embassies  and  legations  of  the 
Allies  in  Petrograd  to  define,  within  one  week,  the  attitude 
of  their  Governments  "towards  the  peace  negotiations,"  and  state 
their  willingness  or  refusal  to  join  in  negotiations  for  an  armis- 
tice and  peace.  In  case  of  their  "refusal  they  must  declare 
clearly  and  finally  before  all  mankind  the  aims  for  which  the 
peoples  of  Europe  may  be  called  to  shed  their  blood  during  the 
fourth  year  of  the  war." 

President  Wilson  had  just  done  so  for  the  United  States. 
Congress  had  assembled  on  the  third  of  December  and  on  the 
fourth  he  made  his  annual  address.  He  believed  that  he  spoke 
for  the  American  people  when  he  said  two  things :  "First,  that 
this  intolerable  Thing  of  which  the  masters  of  Germany  have 
shown  us  the  ugly  face,  this  menace  of  combined  intrigue  and 
force  which  we  now  see  so  clearly  as  the  German  power,  a 
Thing  without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for  covenanted 
peace,  must  be  crushed  and,  if  it  be  not  utterly  brought  to  an 
end,  at  least  shut  out  from  the  friendly  intercourse  of  the 
nations;  and,  second,  that  when  this  Thing  and  its  power  are 


436     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

indeed  defeated  and  the  time  comes  that  we  can  discuss  peace 
— when  the  German  people  have  spokesmen  whose  word  we 
can  believe  and  when  those  spokesmen  are  ready  in  the  name 
of  their  people  to  accept  the  common  judgment  of  the  nations  as 
to  what  shall  henceforth  be  the  basis  of  law  and  of  covenant  for 
the  life  of  the  world,  we  shall  be  willing  and  glad  to  pay  the 
full  price  for  peace,  and  pay  it  ungrudgingly.  We  know  what 
that  price  will  be.  It  will  be  full,  impartial  justice  done  at 
every  point  and  to  every  nation  that  the  final  settlement  must 
affect,  our  enemies  as  well  as  our  friends. 

"You  catch,  with  me,  the  voices  of  humanity  that  are  in 
the  air.  They  grow  daily  more  audible,  more  articulate,  more 
persuasive,  and  they  come  from  the  hearts  of  men  everywhere. 
They  insist  that  the  war  shall  not  end  in  vindictive  action 
of  any  kind;  that  no  nation  or  people  shall  be  robbed  or  pun- 
ished because  the  irresponsible  rulers  of  a  single  country  have 
themselves  done  deep  and  abominable  wrong.  It  is  this  thought 
that  has  been  expressed  in  the  formula,  'No  annexations,  no 
contributions,  no  punitive  indemnities.' 

"Just  because  this  crude  formula  expresses  the  instinctive 
judgment  as  to  the  right  of  plain  men  everywhere  it  has  been 
made  diligent  use  of  by  the  masters  of  German  intrigue  to  lead 
the  people  of  Russia  astray,  and  the  people  of  every  other 
country  their  agents  could  reach,  in  order  that  a  premature 
peace  might  be  brought  about  before  autocracy  has  been  taught 
its  final  and  convincing  lesson  and  the  people  of  the  world  put 
in  control  of  their  own  destinies. 

"Let  there  be  no  misunderstanding.  Our  present  and 
immediate  task  is  to  win  the  war  and  nothing  shall  turn  us 
aside  from  it  until  it  is  accomplished.  Every  power  and  re- 
source we  possess,  whether  of  men,  of  money,  or  materials, 
is  being  devoted  and  will  continue  to  be  devoted  to  that  pur- 
pose until  it  is  achieved.  .  .  .  We  shall  regard  the  war  as  won 
only  when  the  German  people  say  to  us,  through  properly 
accredited  representatives,  that  they  are  ready  to  agree  to  a 
settlement  based  upon  justice  and  the  reparation  of  the  wrongs 
their  rulers  have  done. 

"They  have  done  a  wrong  to  Belgium  which  must  be  re- 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  437 

paired.  They  have  established  a  power  over  other  lands  and 
peoples  than  their  own,  over  the  great  empire  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  over  hitherto  free  Balkan  States,  over  Turkey  and 
within  Asia,  which  must  be  relinquished. 

"The  peace  we  make  must  remedy  that  wrong.  It  must 
deliver  the  once  fair  lands  and  happy  peoples  of  Belgium  and 
Northern  France  from  the  Prussian  conquest  and  the  Prus- 
sian menace,  but  it  must  also  deliver  the  peoples  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  alike  in  Europe  and  in  Asia,  from  the  impudent  and 
alien  domination  of  the  Prussian  military  and  commercial 
autocracy. 

"We  owe  it,  however,  to  ourselves  to  say  that  we  do  not 
wish  in  any  way  to  impair  or  to  rearrange  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  empire.  It  is  no  affair  of  ours  what  they  do  with 
their  own  life,  either  industrially  or  politically.  We  do  not 
purpose  or  desire  to  dictate  to  them  in  any  way.  We  only 
desire  to  see  that  their  affairs  are  left  in  their  own  hands,  in 
all  matters,  great  or  small.  We  shall  hope  to  secure  for  the 
peoples  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  for  the  people  of  the 
Turkish  empire  the  right  and  opportunity  to  make  their  own 
lives  safe,  their  own  fortunes  secure  against  oppression  or  in- 
justice and  from  the  dictation  of  foreign  courts  or  parties. 

"And  our  attitude  and  purpose  with  regard  to  Germany 
herself  are  of  a  like  kind.  We  intend  no  wrong  against  the 
German  empire,  no  interference  with  her  internal  affairs.  We 
should  deem  either  the  one  or  the  other  absolutely  unjustifiable, 
absolutely  contrary  to  the  principles  we  have  professed  to  live 
by  and  to  hold  most  sacred  throughout  our  life  as  a  nation. 

"What  shall  we  do,  then,  to  push  this  great  war  of  free- 
dom and  justice  to  its  righteous  conclusion?  We  must  clear 
away  with  a  thorough  hand  all  impediments  to  success  and  we 
must  make  every  adjustment  of  law  that  will  facilitate  the  full 
and  free  use  of  our  whole  capacity  and  force  as  a  fighting  unit. 

"One  very  embarrassing  obstacle  that  stands  in  our  way  is 
that  we  are  at  war  with  Germany,  but  not  with  her  allies.  I 
therefore  very  earnestly  recommend  that  the  Congress  imme- 
diately declare  the  United  States  in  a  state  of  war  with  Austria- 


438     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Hungary.  Does  it  seem  strange  to  you  that  this  should  be  the 
conclusion  of  the  argument  I  have  just  addressed  to  you  ?  It  is 
not.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  inevitable  logic  of  what  I  have  said. 
Austria-Hungary  is  for  the  time  being  not  her  own  mistress, 
but  simply  the  vassal  of  the  German  Government.  We  must 
face  the  facts  as  they  are  and  act  upon  them  without  sentiment 
in  this  stern  business.  The  Government  of  Austria-Hungary 
is  not  acting  upon  its  own  initiative  or  in  response  to  the  wishes 
and  feelings  of  its  own  peoples,  but  as  the  instrument  of 
another  nation.  We  must  meet  its  force  with  our  own  and 
regard  the  Central  Powers  as  but  one.  The  war  can  be  suc- 
cessfully conducted  in  no  other  way.  The  same  logic  would 
lead  also  to  a  declaration  of  war  against  Turkey  and  Bulgaria. 
They  also  are  the  tools  of  Germany.  But  they  are  mere  tools 
and  do  not  yet  stand  in  the  direct  path  of  our  necessary  action. 
We  shall  go  wherever  the  necessities  of  this  war  carry  us,  but 
it  seems  to  me  that  we  should  go  only  where  immediate  and 
practical  considerations  lead  us  and  not  heed  any  others." 

Joint  resolutions  declaring  that  a  state  of  war  existed  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  were  introduced  in  both  the  Senate  and 
House  and  sent  to  the  appropriate  committees.  That  in  the 
House  was  unanimously  reported  by  the  Committee  on  For- 
eign Affairs,  accompanied  by  a  long  report  setting  forth  all  the 
reasons  why  the  resolution  should  be  adopted. 

A  state  of  war,  it  said,  had  actually  existed  for  many 
months.  Depredations  on  American  lives  and  rights  by  Aus- 
trian naval  forces  had  been  small  compared  with  those  by  Ger- 
many, but  they  had  been  enough  to  constitute  war  upon  this 
country  and,  taken  with  other  acts  of  Austria-Hungary,  had 
brought  the  American  people  to  realize  that  she  must  be 
grouped  with  Germany  as  an  enemy. 

As  far  back  as  1915  Ambassador  Dumba  and  Austrian 
consuls  in  St.  Louis  and  elsewhere  had  instigated  strikes  in 
manufacturing  plants  engaged  in  making  munitions ;  an  Ameri- 
can citizen  protected  by  an  American  passport  had  been  used 
by  Dumba  as  a  bearer  of  official  dispatches,  and  Austrian  con- 
suls at  St.  Louis  and  New  York  had  procured  false  passports 
for  the  use  of  their  countrymen  going  home.  Austria-Hungary 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  439 

in  a  note  of  January  31,  1917,  had  officially  announced  her 
intention  to  adopt  the  ruthless  submarine  policy  begun  by  Ger- 
many, and  had  notified  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
before  war  with  Germany  was  declared  to  exist  tnat  if  such 
a  declaration  were  made  Austria-Hungary  would  sever  diplo- 
matic relations.  No  sooner  was  the  declaration  made  than,  true 
to  this  threat,  Austria-Hungary,  as  an  ally  of  Germany,  broke 
off  diplomatic  relations  with  the  United  States. 

Until  the  recent  Austro-German  drive  in  Italy,  the  forces 
of  Austria  were  gradually  driven  back  by  the  Army  of  Italy. 
With  the  aid  of  German  troops  drawn  from  the  Russian  front, 
a  serious  disaster  had  been  inflicted  on  Italy,  which  had  it  not 
been  stemmed  might  have  ended  in  her  collapse.  Because  of 
this  situation  the  Allies  had  rushed  aid  to  Italy,  and  the  United 
States  was  sending  ships,  money  and  supplies  and  might  soon 
send  troops  who  would  then  be  facing  and  making  war  on 
Austrian  soldiers. 

Because  of  these  facts  a  declaration  of  war  should  be  made. 
It  would  hearten  the  people  of  Italy,  misled  by  German  propa- 
ganda, and  from  a  military  point  of  view  would  strengthen 
the  whole  allied  cause. 

December  7  the  Senate  passed  the  resolution  unani- 
mously and  sent  it  at  once  to  the  House  where,  to  save  time, 
it  was  substituted  for  that  of  the  House,  was  passed  by  a  vote 
of  363  to  1,  and  about  five  o'clock  on  the  same  day  was  signed 
by  the  President. 

Why  war  was  not  declared  on  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  was 
explained  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs.  A  deal  of  friction  existed,  he  said,  between  the  Turks 
and  the  Germans.  Even  the  pro-war  party  was  split  into  fac- 
tions, and  that  headed  by  Talaat  Bey  was  beginning  to  look 
with  suspicion  on  Germany.  A  declaration  of  war,  unless  we 
could  strike  Turkey,  would  strengthen  the  weakening  German 
influence  and  injure  the  anti-German  party.  But  we  could 
not  strike  Turkey,  for  she  had  no  troops  on  the  western  front 
and  few  submarines.  There  was  no  danger  therefore  of  a 
direct  conflict  of  forces.  Bulgaria  had  not  severed  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  United  States,  had  no  interest  in  the  Ger- 
man plans  of  world  conquest,  had  always  been  friendly  to  the 


440     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

United  States,  had  no  submarines  in  the  sea  and  no  forces  on 
the  western  front,  and  there  was  therefore  no  good  reason  to 
wage  war  against  her. 

The  ten-day  period  of  suspension  of  hostilities  having  ex- 
pired, an  armistice  was  signed  by  the  representatives  of  Russia 
on  the  one  hand  and  those  of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Tur- 
key and  Bulgaria  on  the  other,  to  begin  at  two  o'clock  on  the 
afternoon  of  December  17  and  continue  until  January  14,  and 
include  the  land  and  air  forces  along  the  front  from  the  Baltic 
to  the  Black  Sea,  and  along  the  Russo-Turkish  front  in  Asia 
Minor.  While  it  lasted  neither  party  was  to  increase  its  forces 
on  these  fronts,  nor  on  the  islands  in  Moon  Sound.  Neither 
party  was  to  regroup  its  forces,  nor  move  units  from  the  Baltic- 
Black  sea  fronts  except  such  as  had  begun  to  move  before  the 
armistice  was  established,  nor  gather  troops  on  any  part  of 
the  Black  Sea  or  the  Baltic  east  of  the  fifteenth  degree  of  east 
longitude.  Either  party  might  end  the  armistice  on  seven 
days'  notice  to  the  other.  Peace  negotiations  were  to  begin 
at  once. 

On  the  afternoon  of  December  22  accordingly  at  a  solemn 
sitting  of  the  delegates  peace  negotiations  were  begun.  At  the 
head  of  the  German  delegation  was  Dr.  Richard  von  Kiihl- 
mann;  Count  Czernin  headed  that  from  Austria-Hungary; 
Minister  Popoff  that  from  Bulgaria;  Nessimy  Bey,  one  time 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  that  of  Turkey,  and  Joffe 
Kamineff  that  of  Russia.  Dr.  von  Kiihlmann,  who  presided, 
having  invited  the  Russians  to  present  their  proposal  for  a 
basis  of  peace,  it  was  laid  before  the  delegates  under  six  heads, 
and  these  six  were :  no  forcible  appropriation  of  any  territories 
taken  in  the  course  of  the  war ;  full  independence  for  those  na- 
tionalities which  had  been  deprived  of  it  before  the  war  began ; 
nationalities  which  were  not  independent  when  the  war  began 
to  decide  by  referendum  whether  they  would  unite  with  other 
nations,  or  acquire  independence,  and  in  countries  inhabited 
by  several  nationalities  the  rights  of  minorities  to  be  safe- 
guarded by  special  provisions;  no  war  indemnity;  all  requisi- 
tions to  be  returned  and  war  sufferers  compensated  out  of  a 
fund  levied  on  all  belligerents  in  proportion  to  their  resources. 
Colonial  questions  to  be  in  accordance  with  these  conditions. 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  441 

Count  Czernin,  speaking  for  the  quadruple  alliance,  Decem- 
ber 25,  said  the  Russian  proposals  formed  a  discussable  basis 
for  peace.  The  delegates  of  the  quadruple  alliance  were  ready 
for  peace  without  annexations  and  without  indemnity.  "It 
must,  however,  be  expressly  pointed  out  that  all  the  Powers  now 
participating  in  the  war  must  within  a  suitable  time,  without 
exception  and  without  any  reserve,  bind  themselves  to  the  most 
precise  adherence  to  conditions  binding  all  nations  in  the  same 
manner,  if  the  stipulations  of  the  Russian  expose  are  to  be  ful- 
filled, for  it  would  not  do  for  the  Powers  of  the  quadruple 
alliance  negotiating  with  Russia  one-sidedly  to  tie  themselves 
to  these  conditions  without  a  guarantee  that  Russia's  allies  will 
recognize  and  will  carry  out  these  conditions  honestly  and  with- 
out reserve  as  regards  the  quadruple  alliance." 

Passing  in  review  the  six  points  of  the  Russian  peace  basis, 
Count  Czernin  said  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  allied  Gov- 
ernments "to  appropriate  forcibly"  territory  they  then  held, 
nor  was  it  their  intention  "to  rob  of  its  independence"  any  of 
the  nations  which  in  the  course  of  the  war  had  lost  it.  Alle- 
giance of  national  groups  which  had  no  independence  could  not 
be  regulated  as  between  States,  but  must  be  settled  by  every 
State  with  its  people.  Protection  of  the  rights  of  minorities 
was  an  essential  part  of  the  right  of  peoples  to  self-determina- 
tion. The  allied  Powers  had  often  said  that  both  sides  could 
renounce  indemnification  for  war  costs  and  for  war  damages. 
The  creation  of  a  special  fund  could  only  be  considered  if  the 
other  belligerent  Powers  within  a  suitable  period  joined  in  the 
peace  negotiations. 

Return  of  colonies  forcibly  occupied  and  captured  was 
"an  essential  part  of  the  German  demands  from  which  under 
no  circumstances  could  she  depart." 

The  Russians  thought  ten  days  a  suitable  period  within 
which  the  Allies  should  express  their  willingness  or  refusals 
to  join  in  peace  negotiations,  and  the  Germans  having  ap- 
proved, it  was  ordered  to  begin  on  December  26,  1917,  and 
end  January  4,  1918. 

This  agreement  reached,  the  discussion  of  matters  that  would 
have  to  be  settled,  in  the  event  of  peace,  was  begun.  The 
Bolshevist  delegates  proposed  that  Russia  withdraw  her  troops 


442     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

from  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey,  Persia,  and  that  the  Central 
Powers  withdraw  theirs  from  Poland,  Lithuania,  and  Courland. 
This  was  in  accordance  with  the  declaration  hy  the  Russian 
Government  of  the  right  of  all  people  living  in  Russia  to  self- 
determination,  including  even  separation.  Populations  in 
these  districts  were  to  be  given  an  opportunity  within  the  short- 
est possible  time  to  decide  whether  they  would  join  Russia, 
Germany,  Austria,  or  be  free. 

The  Germans  replied  by  presenting  two  articles  of  a  pre- 
liminary treaty: 

"First.  Russia  and  Germany  are  to  declare  the  state  of 
war  at  an  end.  Both  nations  are  resolved  to  live  together  in  the 
future  in  peace  and  friendship  on  condition  of  complete  reci- 
procity. Germany  will  be  ready  as  soon  as  peace  is  concluded 
with  Russia  and  the  demobilization  of  the  Russian  armies  has 
been  accomplished  to  evacuate  her  present  positions  in  occupied 
Russian  territory  in  so  far  as  no  different  inferences  result 
from  Article  II. 

"Second.  The  Russian  Government,  having  in  accordance 
with  its  principles  proclaimed  for  all  peoples  without  excep- 
tion living  within  the  Russian  empire  the  right  of  self-determi- 
nation, including  complete  separation,  takes  cognizance  of  the 
decisions  expressing  the  will  of  people  demanding  a  full  state 
of  independence  and  separation  from  the  Russian  empire  for 
Poland,  Lithuania,  Courland  and  portions  of  Esthonia  and 
Livonia. 

"The  Russian  Government  recognizes  that  in  the  present 
circumstances  these  manifestations  must  be  regarded  as  an 
expression  of  the  will  of  the  people,  and  is  ready  to  draw  con- 
clusions therefrom.  As  in  those  districts  to  which  the  fore- 
going stipulations  apply  the  question  of  evacuation  is  not  such 
as  provided  for  in  Article  I,  a  special  commission  shall  discuss 
and  fix  the  time  and  other  details  in  conformity  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Russian  idea  of  the  necessary  ratification  by  a 
plebiscite  on  broad  lines,  and  without  any  military  pressure 
whatever,  of  the  already  existing  proclamation  of  separation." 

To  this  the  Bolshevists  answered: 

"0ur  standpoint  is  that  only  such  manifestation  of  will  can 
be  regarded  as  a  de  facto  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  443 

as  results  from  a  free  vote  taken  in  the  districts  in  question 
with  the  complete  absence  of  foreign  troops.  We  therefore  pro- 
pose, and  must  insist  thereon,  that  a  clearer  and  more  precise 
formulation  of  this  point  be  made.  We  consent,  however,  to 
the  appointment  of  a  special  commission  for  the  examination 
of  technical  conditions  for  the  realization  of  such  referendums 
and  also  for  the  fixing  of  a  definite  time  for  evacuation." 

December  28  provisional  agreements  were  finally  reached 
on  many  points  with  the  reservation  that  they  were  to  be  ex- 
amined by  the  respective  Governments.  The  delegates  then 
went  home.  The  agreements  were  that  the  war  was  to  be 
declared  at  an  end;  that  Germany  was  to  evacuate  her  posi- 
tions in  occupied  Russia  as  soon  as  the  Russian  armies  had 
been  demobilized;  that  there  should  be  no  economic  war  after 
peace  was  concluded,  and  no  discrimination  against  subjects, 
merchant  ships  or  goods  of  either  party ;  that  civilians  interned 
were  to  be  immediately  released ;  prisoners  of  war  exchanged  as 
soon  as  possible;  and  no  demands  for  damages  suffered  during 
the  war.  Many  other  issues  were  to  bo  arranged  to  suit  the 
interests  of  Germany. 

January  4  the  ten  days  allowed  the  Allies  in  which  to  say 
whether  they  would  or  would  not  take  part  in  the  peace  negotia- 
tions ended.  On  that  day  the  delegates  of  the  Central  Powers 
returned  to  Brest-Litovsk,  and  finding  no  Russian  delegates 
there,  von  Kiihlmann,  Count  Czernin,  M.  Popoff  and  ISTessimy 
Bey  sent  this  wireless  message  to  "Comrade"  Joffe,  head  of  the 
Russian  delegation: 

"In  their  reply  to  the  proposals  of  the  Russian  delegation 
the  delegations  of  the  Central  Powers  outlined  on  December  25 
at  Brest-Litovsk  certain  guiding  principles  for  the  conclusion 
of  an  immediate  general  peace.  In  order,  however,  to  avoid  any 
one-sided  commitment,  they  expressly  made  the  validity  of  these 
guiding  principles  dependent  upon  the  obligation  that  all  the 
Powers  engaged  in  the  war,  without  exception  and  without 
reserve,  should  within  a  suitable  period  bind  themselves  strictly 
to  observe  these  conditions  which  were  equally  binding  upon 
all  peoples.  With  the  consent  of  the  four  allied  delegations 
the  Russian  delegation  then  fixed  the  term  of  ten  days  within 
which  the  other  belligerents  should  take  cognizance  of  these 


444     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

principles  for  the  conclusion  of  an  immediate  peace  as  laid 
down  at  Brest-Litovsk  and  decide  whether  they  would  join  in 
the  peace  negotiations  or  not.  The  delegations  of  the  allied 
Powers  now  place  on  record  the  fact  that  the  ten  days'  term 
agreed  upon  lapsed  on  January  4,  and  that  no  declaration 
regarding  participation  in  these  peace  negotiations  has  so  far 
been  received  from  any  of  the  other  belligerents." 

It  was  further  announced  that  the  failure  of  the  Allies  to 
notice  the  invitation  to  take  part  in  the  negotiations  at  Brest- 
Litovsk  relieved  the  Central  Powers  from  all  obligations  and 
left  them  free  to  conclude  a  separate  peace  with  Russia,  and 
that  they  were  no  longer  bound  by  the  general  peace  proposals 
submitted  to  the  Russians. 

The  Bolsheviki,  meantime,  requested  that  negotiations  be 
transferred  to  Stockholm  because  they  preferred  a  neutral  place 
to  the  German  headquarters,  and  because  at  Stockholm  it  would 
be  easier  to  secure  full  publicity  to  all  proceedings.  Hearing 
that  the  delegates  of  the  Central  Powers  were  at  Brest-Litovsk, 
the  Russian  delegates,  however,  at  once  set  off  for  that  place 
on  January  5. 

On  that  day  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  speaking  to  the  delegates  of 
the  trade  unions,  answered  the  Central  Powers  with  a  clear 
statement  of  the  British  war  aims,  of  what  she  was  fighting 
for,  and  on  what  conditions  she  would  welcome  peace.  She 
was  not  fighting  a  war  of  aggression;  was  not  seeking  the  de- 
struction of  Germany  or  Austria-Hungary;  did  not  wish  to 
deprive  Turkey  of  its  capital  nor  of  the  rich  lands  of  Asia 
Minor  and  Thrace. 

She  was  fighting  for  complete  restoration  of  Belgium,  with 
full  indemnity  for  the  devastation  of  her  towns  and  provinces ; 
for  the  restoration  of  Serbia,  Montenegro,  and  the  occupied 
parts  of  France,  Italy,  Roumania ;  for  an  independent  Poland ; 
for  a  recognition  of  the  great  wrong  of  1871  when,  regardless 
of  the  wishes  of  the  people,  two  provinces  were  torn  from  the 
side  of  France  and  incorporated  in  the  German  Empire;  self- 
government  must  be  granted  those  Austro-Hungarian  nation- 
alities who  have  so  long  desired  it;  the  claims  of  the  Italians 
for  union  with  those  of  their  race  and  tongue  must  be  satisfied ; 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  445 

and  justice  must  be  done  to  men  of  Roumanian  blood  and  speech 
"in  their  legitimate  aspirations." 

Constantinople  should  remain  the  capital  of  Turkey;  the 
passage  between  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean  should 
be  internationalized  and  neutralized;  Arabia,  Armenia,  Meso- 
potamia, Syria  and  Palestine  recognized  as  separate  nations, 
and  the  German  colonies  held  at  the  disposal  of  a  conference 
whose  decision  must  respect  the  wishes  and  interests  of  the 
people  of  each  colony.  Reparation  must  be  made  for  injuries 
done  in  violation  of  international  law,  especially  as  regarded 
British  seamen ;  the  sanctity  of  treaties  must  be  reestablished ; 
and  a  tribunal  set  up  to  limit  armament  and  lessen  the  chance 
of  war. 

Taking  up  the  speech  of  Count  Czernin  to  the  Bolshevist 
delegates,  Mr.  George  said:  "We  are  told  that  'it  is  not  the 
intention'  of  the  Central  Powers  'to  appropriate  forcibly'  any 
occupied  territories  or  'to  rob  of  its  independence'  any  nation 
which  has  lost  its  'political  independence'  during  the  war.  Jt 
is  obvious  that  almost  any  scheme  of  conquest  and  annexation 
could  be  perpetrated  within  the  literal  interpretation  of  such 
a  pledge. 

"Does  it  mean  that  Belgium,  Serbia,  Montenegro  and 
Roumania  will  be  as  independent  and  as  free  to  direct  their  own 
destinies  as  the  Germans  or  any  other  nation  ?  Or  does  it  mean 
that  all  manner  of  interferences  and  restrictions,  political  and 
economic,  incompatible  with  the  status  and  dignity  of  a  free, 
self-respecting  people,  are  to  be  imposed  ?  If  this  is  the  inten- 
tion there  will  be  one  kind  of  independence  for  a  great  nation 
and  an  inferior  kind  of  independence  for  a  small  nation.  .  .  . 
Reparation  for  the  wanton  damage  inflicted  on  Belgian  towns 
and  villages  and  their  inhabitants  is  emphatically  repudiated. 
The  rest  of  the  so-called  'offer'  of  the  Central  Powers  is  almost 
entirely  a  refusal  of  all  concessions.  The  question  whether  any 
form  of  self-government  is  to  be  given  to  Arabs,  Armenians, 
or  Syrians  is  declared  to  be  entirely  a  matter  for  the  Sublime 
Porte.  .  .  . 

"On  one  point  only  are  they  perfectly  clear  and  definite. 
Under  no  circumstances  will  the  'German  demand'  for  the 
restoration  of  the  whole  of  Germany's  colonies  be  departed 


446     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

from.  All  principles  of  self-determination,  or  as  our  earlier 
phrase  goes,  government  by  the  consent  of  the  governed,  here 
vanishes  into  thin  air." 

Everywhere  among  the  Allies  the  Prime  Minister's  restate- 
ment of  the  -war  aims  of  Great  Britain  found  a  hearty  approval 
and  telegrams  of  congratulation  were  still  coming  to  Down- 
ing Street  when  President  Wilson  on  January  8  appeared  be- 
fore Congress  and  stated  his  "program  of  the  world's  peace." 

"1.  Open  covenants  of  peace,  openly  arrived  at,  after  which 
there  shall  be  no  private  international  understandings  of  any 
kind,  but  diplomacy  shall  proceed  always  frankly  and  in  the 
public  view. 

"2.  Absolute  freedom  of  navigation  upon  the  seas,  outside 
territorial  waters,  alike  in  peace  and  in  war,  except  as  the  seas 
may  be  closed  in  whole  or  in  part  by  international  action  for 
the  enforcement  of  international  covenants. 

"3.  The  removal,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all  economic  bar- 
riers and  the  establishment  of  an  equality  of  trade  conditions 
among  all  the  nations  consenting  to  the  peace  and  associating 
themselves  for  its  maintenance. 

"4.  Adequate  guarantees  given  and  taken  that  national 
armaments  will  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point  consistent  with 
domestic  safety. 

"5.  A  free,  open-minded  and  absolutely  impartial  adjust- 
ment of  all  colonial  claims,  based  upon  a  strict  observance  of 
the  principle  that  in  determining  all  such  questions  of  sover- 
eignty the  interests  of  the  population  concerned  must  have  equal 
weight  with  the  equitable  claims  of  the  Government  whose  title 
is  to  be  determined. 

"6.  The  evacuation  of  all  Russian  territory  and  such  a 
settlement  of  all  questions  affecting  Russia  as  will  secure  the 
best  and  freest  cooperation  of  the  other  nations  of  the  world  in 
obtaining  for  her  an  unhampered  and  unembarrassed  oppor- 
tunity for  the  independent  determination  of  her  own  political 
development  and  national  policy  and  assure  her  of  a  sincere 
welcome  into  the  society  of  free  nations  under  institutions  of 
her  own  choosing;  and,  more  than  a  welcome,  assistance  also 
of  every  kind  that  she  may  need  and  may  herself  desire.  The 
treatment  accorded  Russia  by  her  sister  nations  in  the  months 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  447 

to  come  will  be  the  acid  test  of  their  good-will,  of  their  com- 
prehension of  her  needs  as  distinguished  from  their  own  inter- 
ests, and  of  their  intelligent  and  unselfish  sympathy. 

"7.  Belgium,  the  whole  world  will  agree,  must  be  evacu- 
ated and  restored  without  any  attempt  to  limit  the  sovereignty 
which  she  enjoys  in  common  with  all  other  free  nations.  No 
other  single  act  will  serve  as  this  will  serve  to  restore  confi- 
dence among  the  nations  in  the  laws  which  they  have  them- 
selves set  and  determined  for  the  government  of  their  relations 
with  one  another.  Without  this  healing  act  the  whole  struc- 
ture and  validity  of  international  law  is  forever  impaired. 

"8.  All  French  territory  should  be  freed  and  the  invaded 
portions  restored  and  the  wrong  done  to  France  by  Prussia  in 
1871  in  the  matter  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  which  has  unsettled  the 
peace  of  the  world  for  nearly  fifty  years,  should  be  righted  in 
order  that  peace  may  once  more  be  made  secure  in  the  interests 
of  all. 

"9.  A  readjustment  of  the  frontiers  of  Italy  should  be 
effected  along  clearly  recognizable  lines  of  nationality. 

"10.  The  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  whose  place  among 
the  nations  we  wish  to  see  safeguarded  and  assured,  should  be 
accorded  the  freest  opportunity  of  autonomous  development. 

"11.  Roumania,  Serbia  and  Montenegro  should  be  evacu- 
ated; occupied  territories  restored;  Serbia  accorded  free  and 
secure  access  to  the  sea ;  and  the  relations  of  the  several  Balkan 
States  to  one  another  determined  by  friendly  counsel  along 
historically  established  lines  of  allegiance  and  nationality;  and 
international  guarantees  of  the  political  and  economic  inde- 
pendence and  territorial  integrity  of  the  several  Balkan  States 
should  be  entered  into. 

"12.  The  Turkish  portions  of  the  present  Ottoman  empire 
should  be  assured  a  secure  sovereignty,  but  the  other  nationali- 
ties which  are  now  under  Turkish  rule  should  be  assured  an 
undoubted  security  of  life  and  an  absolutely  unmolested  oppor- 
tunity of  autonomous  development,  and  the  Dardanelles  should 
be  permanently  opened  as  a  free  passage  to  the  ships  and  com- 
merce of  all  nations  under  international  guarantees. 

"13.  An  independent  Polish  State  should  be  erected  which 
should  include  the  territories  inhabited  by  indisputably  Polish 


448     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

populations,  which  should  be  assured  a  free  and  secure  access 
to  the  sea,  and  whose  political  and  economic  independence  and 
territorial  integrity  should  be  guaranteed  by  international 
covenant. 

"14.  A  general  association  of  nations  must  be  formed  un- 
der specific  covenants  for  the  purpose  of  affording  mutual  guar- 
antees of  political  independence  and  territorial  integrity  to 
great  and  small  States  alike." 

Germany  having  flatly  refused  to  transfer  negotiations  to 
Stockholm,  they  were  resumed  at  Brest-Litovsk  and  dragged 
along  until  January  23.  By  that  time  the  Central  Powers  had 
demanded  the  cession  of  the  Baltic  provinces  and  drew  a  line 
of  demarcation  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland  east  of  the  Moon 
Sound  Islands  to  Valk,  and  thence  to  Brest-Litovsk,  declared 
these  were  the  last  terms  they  would  offer,  and  that  if  they  were 
not  accepted  hostilities  would  be  at  once  resumed  and  Revel 
occupied  within  a  week.  They  were  unanimously  rejected  by 
the  Bolshevist  delegates;  but  at  their  request  the  Central  Pow- 
ers granted  a  recess  until  January  29  in  order  that  the  peace 
proposals  might  be  laid  before  the  Council  of  Soldiers'  and 
Workingmen's  delegates. 

On  the  following  day,  January  24,  Count  Hertling,  the 
Imperial  German  Chancellor,  in  a  speech  before  the  Main 
Committee  of  the  Reichstag,  answered  both  Lloyd  George  and 
President  Wilson.1  Taking  up  the  fourteen  points  in  the  Presi- 
dent's speech,  he  said,  concerning  the  first,  on  no  secret  treaties : 
"History  shows  that  it  is  we  above  all  others  who  would  be  able 
to  agree  to  the  publicity  of  diplomatic  documents.  .  .  .  The 
negotiations  at  Brest-Litovsk  are  being  conducted  with  full 
publicity.  This  proves  we  are  quite  ready  to  accept  this 
proposal."  The  second  point,  freedom  of  the  seas,  was  also 
"demanded  by  Germany  as  the  first  and  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant requirements  of  the  future.  Therefore,  there  is  here  no 
difference  of  opinion."  With  point  three,  trade  equality :  "We, 
too,  are  in  thorough  accord.  .  .  .  We,  too,  condemn  economic 
war  which  would  inevitably  bear  within  it  causes  of  future 
warlike  complications."  Point  four,  limitation  of  armaments, 

1  The  speech  is  given  in  full  in  Current  History  for  March,  1918,  pp. 
389-394. 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  449 

was  "entirely  discussable."  .  .  .  "An  understanding  might  be 
reached  without  difficulty  on  the  first  four  points  of  Mr.  Wil- 
son's program." 

The  fifth,  colonial  claims,  was  sure  to  "encounter  some 
difficulties  in  any  case,"  and  "for  the  present  it  may  be  left 
for  England,  which  has  the  greatest  colonial  empire,  to  make 
what  she  will  of  this  proposal  of  her  ally."  Point  six,  evacua- 
tion of  Russian  territory,  concerned  "only  Russia  and  the  four 
allied  Powers."  "Now  that  the  Entente  has  refused  within  the 
period  agreed  upon  by  Russia  and  the  Quadruple  Alliance  to 
join  in  negotiation,  I  must,  in  the  name  of  the  latter,  decline 
to  allow  any  subsequent  interference." 

Point  seven,  Belgium  free  and  restored,  Count  Hertling 
said,  "belongs  to  those  questions  the  details  of  which  are  to 
be  settled  by  negotiation  at  the  peace  conference."  So  long  as 
the  Allies  held  tbat  the  integrity  of  their  territory  could  "offer 
the  only  possible  basis  of  a  peace  discussion,"  he  must  "refuse 
the  removal,  in  advance,  of  the  Belgian  affair  from  the  entire 
discussion." 

Point  eight,  all  French  territory  free  and  Alsace-Lorraine 
restored,  was  refused.  "Forcible  annexation"  formed  no  part 
of  the  official  German  policy,  but  the  conditions  of  evacuation 
must  be  settled  between  Germany  and  France.  Alsace-Lorraine 
would  never  be  given  up. 

Points  nine,  ten  and  eleven,  having  to  do  with  the  Italian 
frontier,  were  left  to  be  dealt  with  by  Count  Czernin.  Mat- 
ters touched  on  in  point  twelve  concerned  "our  loyal,  brave 
ally  Turkey"  and  must  be  left  to  the  Turkish  statesmen.  Point 
thirteen  dealt  with  Poland.  To  this,  Count  Hertling  said,  it 
was  not  the  Entente,  "but  the  German  Empire  and  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Monarchy  which  liberated  Poland  from  the  Czaris- 
tic  regime."  Therefore,  it  was  Germany,  Austria  and  Poland 
that  must  settle  the  future  of  that  country.  "The  last  point, 
the  14th,  deals  with  a  league  of  nations."  If  such  a  league 
proved,1  on  closer  examination,  to  be  in  tLe  spirit  of  justice 
and  impartiality  to  all,  "then  the  Imperial  Government  is 
gladly  ready,  when  all  other  pending  questions  have  been  set- 
tled, to  begin  the  examination  of  the  basis  of  such  a  bond  of 
nations." 


450     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

While  Count  Hertling  was  addressing  the  Main  Committee 
of  the  Reichstag,  Count  Czernin  made  his  reply  to  Lloyd  George 
and  the  President  before  the  Austrian  Parliament.  In  that 
part  which  had  to  do  with  the  speech  of  President  Wilson, 
Count  Czernin  said  it  was  evident  that  no  such  offer  could  be 
accepted  in  all  its  detail.  Were  this  the  case  negotiations  would 
be  unnecessary  and  "peace  might  be  made  by  simple  accept- 
ance, by  a  simple  yea  and  amen."  Taking  up  the  fourteen 
points,  he  had  "nothing  to  say  on  the  point  which  discusses 
abolishing  secret  diplomacy  and  complete  publicity  of  negotia- 
tions." He  had  "serious  doubts  whether  it  is  always  the  most 
practical  and  quickest  way  to  reach  a  result."  Of  points  two 
and  three  and  four  he  approved.  To  point  five  he  made  no 
reference.  To  point  six  he  replied  that  Austria-Hungary  did 
not  demand  a  square  meter  of  Russian  territory,  and  to  point 
seven  that:  "So  far  as  these  possessions  concern  her  allies, 
whether  in  the  case  of  German  possessions,  Belgium  or  Turkey, 
Austria-Hungary,  faithful  to  her  engagements,  will  go  to  the 
extreme  in  defense  of  her  allies.  She  will  defend  the  pre-war 
possessions  of  her  allies  as  she  would  her  own."  The  eighth 
point  was  not  discussed;  to  the  ninth  he  said:  "ftaly  had,  be- 
fore the  war,  an  opportunity  of  realizing  a  great  territorial 
expansion  without  firing  a  shot.  She  refused  to  do  this  and 
joined  in  the  war.  She  has  lost  hundreds  of  thousands  in 
killed,  and  millions  in  war  expenses  and  destroyed  riches,  all 
that  solely  in  order  to  lose  the  advantage  which  she  would  have 
been  able  to  gain."  Point  ten  was  answered  in  the  negative. 
Point  eleven  was  refused;  point  twelve  was  covered  in  his 
answer  to  seven;  to  the  thirteenth  he  said,  "We  also  are  sup- 
porters of  the  creation  of  an  independent  Polish  State,"  and 
to  the  fourteenth,  "In  his  idea  of  a  league  of  Peoples,  the  Presi- 
dent would  very  probably  meet  with  no  opposition  in  this 
monarchy." 

February  11,  1918,  the  President  replied  to  Count  Hertling 
and  Count  Czernin.  The  German  Chancellor's  speech  he  found 
very  vague,  very  confusing,  full  of  equivocal  phrases,  and  lead- 
ing it  was  not  clear  where. 

"His  discussion  and  acceptance  of  our  general  principles 
lead  him  to  no  practical  conclusions.  He  refuses  to  apply  them 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  451 

to  the  substantive  items  which  must  constitute  the  body  of  any 
final  settlement.  He  is  jealous  of  international  action  and  of 
international  council.  He  accepts,  he  says,  the  principle  of 
public  diplomacy,  but  he  appears  to  insist  that  it  be  confined, 
at  any  rate  in  this  case,  to  generalities,  and  that  the  several 
particular  questions  of  territory  and  sovereignty,  the  several 
questions  upon  whose  settlement  must  depend  the  acceptance  of 
peace  by  the  twenty-three  States  now  engaged  in  the  war,  must 
be  discussed  and  settled,  not  in  general  council,  but  severally 
by  the  nations  most  immediately  concerned  by  interest  or 
neighborhood. 

"He  will  discuss  with  no  one  but  the  representatives  of  Rus- 
sia what  disposition  shall  be  made  of  the  peoples  and  the  lands 
of  the  Baltic  provinces;  with  no  one  but  the  Government  of 
France  the  'conditions'  under  which  French  territory  shall  be 
evacuated;  and  only  with  Austria  what  shall  be  done  with 
Poland. 

"In  the  determination  of  all  questions  affecting  the  Balkan 
States  he  defers,  as  I  understand  him,  to  Austria  and  Turkey ; 
and  with  regard  to  the  agreements  to  be  entered  into  concern- 
ing the  non-Turkish  peoples  of  the  present  Ottoman  Empire, 
to  the  Turkish  authorities  themselves. 

»•••••  • 

"It  must  be  evident  to  every  one  who  understands  what  this 
war  has  wrought  in  the  opinion  and  temper  of  the  world  that 
no  general  peace,  no  peace  worth  the  infinite  sacrifices  of  these 
years  of  tragical  suffering,  can  possibly  be  arrived  at  in  any  such 
fashion.  The  method  the  German  Chancellor  proposes  is  the 
method  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  We  cannot  and  will  not 
return  to  that. 

"What  is  at  stake  now  is  the  peace  of  the  world."  .  .  . 
"The  peace  of  the  world  depends  upon  the  just  settlement  of 
each  of  the  several  problems  to  which  I  adverted  in  my  recent 
address  to  the  Congress.  I,  of  course,  do  not  mean  that  the 
peace  of  the  world  depends  upon  the  acceptance  of  any  par- 
ticular set  of  suggestions  as  to  the  way  in  which  those  problems 
are  to  be  dealt  with.  I  mean  only  that  those  problems  each  and 
all  affect  the  whole  world;  that  unless  they  are  dealt  with  in 


452     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

a  spirit  of  unselfish  and  unbiased  justice,  with  a  view  to  the 
wishes,  the  natural  connections,  the  racial  aspirations,  the  secur- 
ity and  peace  of  mind  of  the  peoples  involved,  no  permanent 
peace  will  have  been  attained.  .  .  . 

"Is  Count  von  Hertling  not  aware  that  he  is  speaking  in 
the  court  of  mankind,  that  all  the  awakened  nations  of  the 
world  now  sit  in  judgment  on  what  every  public  man,  of  what- 
ever nation,  may  say  on  the  issues  of  a  conflict  which  has  spread 
to  every  region  of  the  world?  The  Reichstag  resolutions  of 
July  themselves  frankly  accepted  the  decisions  of  that  court. 
There  sliall  be  no  annexations,  no  contributions,  no  punitive 
damages.  Peoples  are  not  to  be  handed  about  from  one  sover- 
eignty to  another  by  an  international  conference  or  an  under- 
standing between  rivals  and  antagonists.  National  aspirations 
must  be  respected;  peoples  may  now  be  dominated  and  gov- 
erned only  by  their  own  consent.  'Self-determination'  is  not 
a  mere  phrase.  Jt  is  an  imperative  principle  of  action,  which 
statesmen  will  henceforth  ignore  at  their  peril. 

"We  cannot  have  general  peace  for  the  asking  or  by  the 
mere  arrangements  of  a  peace  conference.  It  cannot  be  pieced 
together  out  of  individual  understandings  between  powerful 
States.  All  the  parties  to  this  war  must  join  in  the  settlement 
of  every  issue  anywhere  involved  in  it,  because  what  we  are 
seeking  is  a  peace  that  we  can  all  unite  to  guarantee  and  main- 
tain, and  every  item  of  it  must  be  submitted  to  the  common 
judgment  whether  it  be  right  and  fair,  an  act  of  justice,  rather 
than  a  bargain  between  sovereigns. 

"The  United  States  has  no  desire  to  interfere  in  European 
affairs  or  to  act  as  arbiter  in  European  territorial  disputes.  .  .  . 

"But  she  entered  this  war  because  she  was  made  a  partner, 
whether  she  would  or  not,  in  the  sufferings  and  indignities 
inflicted  by  the  military  masters  of  Germany  against  the  peace 
and  security  of  mankind ;  and  the  conditions  of  peace  will  touch 
her  as  nearly  as  they  will  touch  any  other  nation  to  which  is 
entrusted  a  leading  part  in  the  maintenance  of  civilization. 
She  cannot  see  her  way  to  peace  until  the  causes  of  this  war 
are  removed,  its  renewal  rendered,  as  nearly  as  may  be, 
impossible. 

"This  war  had  its  roots  in  the  disregard  of  the  rights  of 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  453 

small  nations  and  of  nationalities  which  lacked  the  union  and 
the  force  to  make  good  their  claim  to  determine  their  own  alle- 
giances and  their  own  forms  of  political  life.  Covenants  must 
now  be  entered  into  which  will  render  such  things  impossible 
for  the  future;  and  those  covenants  must  be  backed  by  the 
united  force  of  all  the  nations  that  love  justice  and  are  willing 
to  maintain  it  at  any  cost.  .  .  . 

"Count  Czernin  seems  to  see  the  fundamental  elements  of 
peace  with  clear  eyes,  and  does  not  seek  to  obscure  them.  He 
sees  that  an  independent  Poland,  made  up  of  all  the  indis- 
putably Polish  peoples  who  lie  contiguous  to  one  another,  is 
a  matter  of  European  concern,  and  must,  of  course,  be  con- 
ceded; that  Belgium  must  be  evacuated  and  restored,  no  mat- 
ter what  sacrifices  and  concessions  that  may  involve;  and  that 
national  aspirations  must  be  satisfied,  even  within  his  own 
empire,  in  the  common  interest  of  Europe  and  mankind. 

"If  he  is  silent  about  questions  which  touch  the  interest 
and  purpose  of  his  allies  more  nearly  than  they  touch  those  of 
Austria  only,  it  must,  of  course,  be  because  he  feels  constrained, 
I  suppose,  to  defer  to  Germany  and  Turkey  in  the  circum- 
stances. Seeing  and  conceding,  as  he  does,  the  essential  prin- 
ciples involved  and  the  necessity  of  candidly  applying  them, 
he  naturally  feels  that  Austria  can  respond  to  the  purpose  of 
peace  as  expressed  by  the  United  States  with  less  embarrass- 
ment than  could  Germany.  He  would  probably  have  gone 
much  further  had  it  not  been  for  the  embarrassments  of  Aus- 
tria's alliances  and  of  her  dependence  upon  Germany. 

"After  all,  the  test  of  whether  it  is  possible  for  either 
Government  to  go  any  further  in  this  comparison  of  views  is 
simple  and  obvious.  The  principles  to  be  applied  are  these : 

"First — That  each  part  of  the  final  settlement  must  be 
based  upon  the  essential  justice  of  that  particular  case  and 
upon  such  adjustments  as  are  most  likely  to  bring  a  peace  that 
will  be  permanent. 

"Second — That  peoples  and  provinces  are  not  to  be  bartered 
about  from  sovereignty  to  sovereignty  as  if  they  were  mere 
chattels  and  pawns  in  a  game,  even  the  great  game,  now  for- 
ever discredited,  of  the  balance  of  power ;  but  that, 

"Third — Every  territorial  settlement  involved  in  this  war 


454     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

must  be  made  in  the  interest  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  popu- 
lations concerned,  and  not  as  a  part  of  any  mere  adjustment 
or  compromise  of  claims  among  rival  States ;  and, 

"Fourth — That  all  well-defined  national  aspirations  shall  be 
accorded  the  utmost  satisfaction  that  can  be  accorded  them 
without  introducing  new  or  perpetuating  old  elements  of  dis- 
cord and  antagonism  that  would  be  likely  in  time  to  break  the 
peace  of  Europe,  and  consequently  of  the  world. 

"A  general  peace  erected  upon  such  foundations  can  be 
discussed.  Until  such  a  peace  can  be  secured  we  have  no  choice 
but  to  go  on." 

February  12  Mr.  Lloyd  George  made  his  reply  to  the  speech 
of  the  German  Chancellor,  and  February  25  Count  Hertling 
answered  the  four  points  of  President  Wilson's  speech  of 
February  11. 

"It  has  been  repeatedly  said  that  we  do  not  contemplate 
retaining  Belgium,  but  that  we  must  be  safeguarded  from  the 
danger  of  a  country  with  which  we  desire  after  the  war  to 
live  in  peace  and  friendship  becoming  the  object  or  the  jump- 
ing-off  ground  of  enemy  machinations.  If,  therefore,  a  pro- 
posal came  from  the  opposing  side,  for  example  from  the 
Government  at  Havre,  we  should  not  adopt  an  antagonistic 
attitude  even  though  the  discussion  at  first  might  only  be 
unbinding." 

Meanwhile,  as  there  did  not  seem  to  be  a  chance  of  such  a 
thing  happening,  he  "must  adhere  to  the  existing  method  of 
dialogue  across  the  channel  and  the  ocean." 

Turning  to  the  four  points,  he  asked  as  to  the  first,  "Who 
would  contradict  this?"  Certain  "it  is  that  only  peace  based 
in  all  its  parts  has  a  prospect  of  endurance."  The  second  point 
also  could  "be  unconditionally  assented  to,"  and  so  could  the 
third.  "Now  in  the  fourth  clause  he  demands  that  all  well- 
defined  national  aspirations  shall  be  accorded  the  utmost  satis- 
faction that  can  be  accorded  them  without  introducing  new  or 
perpetuating  old  elements  of  discord  and  antagonism  that  would 
be  likely  in  time  to  break  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  consequently 
of  the  world.  Here  also  I  give  assent  in  principle,  and  I 
declare, .therefore,  with  President  Wilson,  that  a  general  peace 
on  such  a  basis  is  discussable."  But  these  principles  must  not 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  455 

be  proposed  by  President  Wilson  alone.     "They  must  be  defi- 
nitely recognized  by  all  States  and  nations." 

"Our  war  aims  from  the  beginning  were  the  defense  of  the 
Fatherland,  the  maintenance  of  our  territorial  integrity,  and 
the  freedom  of  our  economical  development.  Our  warfare,  even 
when  it  must  be  aggressive  in  action,  is  defensive  in  aim.  I 
lay  special  stress  on  that  subject  just  now  in  order  that  no 
misunderstandings  shall  arise  about  our  operations  in  the  east. 
After  breaking  off  the  peace  negotiations  by  the  Russian  dele- 
gation on  February  10  we  had  a  free  hand  against  Russia. 
The  sole  aim  of  the  advance  of  our  troops,  which  was  begun 
seven  days  after  the  rupture,  was  to  safeguard  the  fruits  of 
our  peace  with  Ukraine.  Aims  of  conquest  were  in  no  way  a 
determining  factor.  .  .  .  We  do  not  intend  to  establish  our- 
selves, for  example,  in  Esthonia,  or  Livonia.  Jn  Courland  and 
Lithuania  our  chief  object  is  to  create  organs  of  self-determina- 
tion and  self -administration." 

Allusions  in  the  speech  of  Count  Hertling  to  affairs  in 
Russia  make  it  necessary  to  narrate  what  had  there  taken  place 
since  January  28  when  the  Bolshevist  delegates  went  home  to 
lay  the  German  peace  terms  before  the  Congress  of  Soldiers' 
and  Workingmen's  delegates.  January  30,  1918,  the  confer- 
ence at  Brest-Litovsk  was  resumed  and  continued  until  Febru- 
ary 10,  when  the  Russian  delegates  broke  off  negotiations, 
refused  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace  and  formally  withdrew  Russia 
from  the  war.  In  a  wireless  announcement  addressed  "to  all 
whom  it  may  concern,"  Trotsky  said : 

"The  peace  negotiations  are  at  an  end.  The  German  capi- 
talists, bankers,  and  landlords,  supported  by  the  silent  co- 
operation of  the  English  and  French  bourgeoisie,  submitted 
to  our  comrades,  members  of  the  peace  delegations  at  Brest- 
Litovsk,  conditions  such  as  could  not  be  subscribed  to  by  the 
Russian  revolution. 

"The  Governments  of  Germany  and  Austria  possess  coun- 
tries and  peoples  vanquished  by  force  of  arms.  To  this  author- 
ity the  Russian  people,  workmen  and  peasants,  could  not  give 
its  acquiescence.  We  could  not  sign  a  peace  which  would  bring 
with  it  sadness,  oppression,  and  suffering  to  millions  of  work- 
men and  peasants. 


456     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

"But  we  also  cannot,  will  not  and  must  not  continue  a  war 
begun  by  Czars  and  capitalists  in  alliance  with  Czars  and  capi- 
talists. We  will  not  and  we  must  not  continue  to  be  at  war 
with  the  Germans  and  Austrians,  workmen  and  peasants  like 
ourselves. 

"We  are  not  signing  a  peace  of  landlords  and  capitalists. 
Let  the  German  and  Austrian  soldiers  know  who  are  placing 
them  in  the  field  of  battle  and  let  them  know  for  what  they 
are  struggling.  Let  them  know  also  that  we  refuse  to  fight 
against  them. 

"Our  delegation,  fully  conscious  of  its  responsibility  before 
the  Russian  people  and  the  oppressed  workers  and  peasants 
of  other  countries,  declared  on  February  10,  in  the  name  of 
the  Council  of  the  People's  Commissaries  of  the  Government 
of  the  Federal  Russian  Republic  to  the  Governments  of  the 
peoples  involved  in  the  war  with  us  and  of  the  neutral  coun- 
tries, that  it  refused  to  sign  an  annexationist  treaty.  Russia, 
for  its  part,  declares  the  present  war  with  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  at  an  end. 

"Simultaneously,  the  Russian  troops  received  an  order  for 
complete  demobilization  on  all  fronts." 

It  was  to  this  surrender  that  Count  Hertling  alluded  when 
he  said,  "After  the  breaking  off  of  the  peace  negotiations  by  the 
Russian  delegates  on  February  10,  we  had  a  free  hand  as 
against  Russia."  How  the  free  hand  was  to  be  used  was  shown 
when,  on  February  18,  the  Germans  once  more  resumed  the 
offensive  and  advanced  against  the  great  fortress  of  Dvinsk  in 
the  north,  and  to  the  relief  of  the  Ukrainians  in  the  south. 
With  the  course  of  events  in  the  Ukraine  we  need  be  not  con- 
cerned. It  is  enough  to  know  that  the  Ukrainian  People's 
Republic  was  proclaimed  by  the  Rada  on  November  20,  1917; 
that  delegates  attended  the  Brest-Litovsk  conference  in  Janu- 
ary, 1918,  and  signed  a  separate  peace  with  Germany  on  Febru> 
ary  9 ;  and  that  it  was  in  response  to  a  call  from  the  Ukrainians 
for  help  against  Bolsheviki,  bent  on  the  destruction  of  the 
Republic,  that  the  Germans  made  their  advance  towards  Kieff. 

To  resist  the  invasion  of  the  Germans  was  impossible,  and 
February  19  Trotsky  and  Lenine  issued  by  wireless  a  procla- 
mation denouncing  the  invasion  but  declaring  that  under  the 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  457 

circumstances  the  Council  of  People's  Commissaries  was  forced 
formally  to  declare  its  willingness  to  sign  a  peace  on  the  terms 
dictated  by  the  Central  Powers  at  Brest-Litovsk.  General 
Hoffmann  in  reply  demanded  that  the  offer  be  put  in  writing 
and  sent  to  the  German  commander  at  Dvinsk.  A  messenger 
carrying  a  copy  of  the  wireless  message  with  the  signatures  of 
Trotsky  and  Lenine  was  sent  post  haste  to  Dvinsk ;  but  the  Ger- 
mans continued  their  advance,  occupied  Esthonia,  took  Lutsk, 
Minsk  and  Rovno  and  February  23,  through  Foreign  Secretary 
Kiihlmann,  the  Imperial  Government  made  a  new  peace  offer, 
imposing  terms  more  drastic*  than  before.  The  terms  must  be 
accepted  within  forty-eight  hours,  and  the  treaty  signed  within 
three  days  and  ratified  within  two  weeks.  The  terms  were  at 
once  accepted,  a  new  delegation  was  sent  to  Brest-Litovsk,  and 
March  3  the  treaty  was  signed  and  the  German  advance  was 
stopped  within  seventy  miles  of  Petrograd.  Finland,  Esthonia, 
Livonia,  Courland,  Lithuania,  Poland,  Ukraine  and  Russian 
Armenia  ceased  to  be  Russian  soil.  Humiliating  as  were  the 
terms,  they  were  accepted  by  the  Pan-Soviet  Congress  assem- 
bled at  Moscow  on  March  1-t,  1918.  To  that  Congress  Presi- 
dent Wilson  telegraphed  a  message  of  sympathy. 

"May  I  not  take  advantage  of  the  meeting  of  the  Congress 
of  the  Soviets  to  express  the  sincere  sympathy  which  the  people 
of  the  United  States  feel  for  the  Russian  people  at  this  moment 
when  the  German  power  has  been  thrust  in  to  interrupt  and 
turn  back  the  whole  struggle  for  freedom  and  substitute  the 
wishes  of  Germany  for  the  purpose  of  the  people  of  Russia  ? 

"Although  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is,  unhap- 
pily, not  now  in  a  position  to  render  the  direct  and  effective 
aid  it  would  wish  to  render,  I  beg  to  assure  the  people  of  Russia 
through  the  Congress  that  it  will  avail  itself  of  every  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  for  Russia  once  more  complete  sovereignty 
and  independence  in  her  own  affairs  and  full  restoration  to  her 
great  role  in  the  life  of  Europe  and  the  modern  world. 

"The  whole  heart  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  with 
the  people  of  Russia  in  the  attempt  to  free  themselves  forever 
from  autocratic  government  and  become  the  masters  of  their 
own  life." 

Samuel  Gompers  in  behalf  of  the  American  Alliance  for 


458     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Labor  and  Democracy  sent  a  cablegram,  "to  the  All-Russian 
Soviet,"  assuring  it  that  every  blow  struck  at  Russian  freedom 
was  as  keenly  felt  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  as  it 
could  be  if  struck  at  their  own;  that  he  spoke  for  a  great  or- 
ganized movement  of  working  people  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
freedom  and  the  ideals  of  democracy;  and  the  whole  nation 
ardently  desired  to  be  helpful  to  Russia,  and  eagerly  awaited 
to  be  told  how  its  help  might  be  most  effectual. 

Three  days  after  Russia  made  peace  with  the  Central  Pow- 
ers, Roumania,  on  March  6,  was  forced  to  sign  a  preliminary 
treaty  which  provided  for  the  cession  of  Dobrudja  as  far  as  the 
Danube,  changed  the  Austro-Hungarian-Roumanian  frontier, 
required  immediate  partial  demobilization,  pledged  the  use  of 
railways  for  the  movement  of  troops  of  the  Central  Powers 
through  Moldavia  and  Bessarabia  to  Odessa,  and  for  the  evacua- 
tion, at  once,  of  all  Austro-Hungarian  territory  occupied  by 
Roumanian  forces.  During  the  German  occupation  of  Roumania 
requisitions  to  the  amount  of  $250,000,000  had  been  levied. 
These  it  was  believed  the  Central  Powers  in  the  final  treaty 
would  treat  as  a  war  indemnity  and  never,  repay. 

Russia  and  Roumania  were  thus  lost  to  the  Allies,  and  sep- 
arate treaties  had  been  made  with  Russia,  Ukraine  and  Rou- 
mania. When  speaking  of  them  to  a  deputation  of  the  Vienna 
City  Council,  April  2,  1918,  Count  Czernin  took  occasion  to 
reply  to  President  Wilson's  four  point  speech  of  February  11. 
The  four  points,  he  said,  were, a  suitable  basis  on  which  to  be- 
gin negotiations  for  a  general  peace;  the  only  question  was 
could  the  President  unite  his  allies  on  this  basis.  As  for  him- 
self, he  said :  "God  is  my  witness  that  we  have  tried  everything 
possible  to  avoid  a  new  offensive.  The  Entente  would  not  have 
it.  A  short  time  before  the  beginning  of  the  offensive  in  the 
west  M.  Clemenceau  inquired  of  me  whether  and  upon  what 
basis  I  was  prepared  to  negotiate.  I  immediately  replied,  in 
agreement  with  Berlin,  that  I  was  ready  to  negotiate  and  that 
as  regards  France  I  saw  no  other  obstacle  for  peace  than 
France's  desire  for  Alsace-Lorraine. 

"The  reply  from  Paris  was  that  France  was  willing  to  ne- 
gotiate only  on  that  basis.  There  was  then  no  choice  left." 

As*  soon  as  M.  Clemenceau,  the  French  Premier,  heard  of 


INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  DEBATE  45Q 

this  he  exclaimed,  "Count  Czernin  has  lied."  Then  followed  an 
exchange  of  statements.  That  conversations  had  taken  place  in 
Switzerland  in  August,  1917,  when  M.  Ribot  was  Premier,  be- 
tween Count  Revertata,  a  personal  friend  of  the  Emperor 
Charles,  and  Commandant  Armand  of  the  French  General 
Staff ;  that  no  results  were  obtained ;  that  the  conversations  were 
renewed  in  January  and  February,  1918,  was  not  denied  by 
either  side.  M.  Clemenceau  asserted  they  were  held  at  the  re- 
quest of  Austria-Hungary.  Count  Czernin  maintained  it  was 
at  the  request  of  France ;  that  after  all  it  was  not  of  consequence 
to  know  who  began  them,  but  who  caused  their  collapse,  and  that 
France  was  responsible  for  this  by  her  refusal  to  negotiate  on 
the  basis  of  her  renunciation  of  the  reacquisition  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine.  M.  Clemenceau,  in  his  reply  to  this  charge,  said  there 
was  no  need  for  Count  Revertata  to  obtain  such  information 
from  Commandant  Armand,  for  the  Emperor  Charles  in  a  let- 
ter written  in  March,  1917,  had  acknowledged  "France's  just 
claim  relative  to  Alsace-Lorraine." 

That  such  a  claim  had  been  acknowledged  the  Emperor 
stoutly  denied.  The  French  Prime  Minister,  he  said  in  a  tele- 
gram to  the  Kaiser,  "driven  into  a  corner  is  endeavoring  to  es- 
cape from  the  net  of  lies  in  which  he  has  entangled  himself  by 
piling  up  more  and  more  untruths,"  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
falsely  state  that  "I  recognized  that  France  had  a  just  claim 
to  the  reacquisition  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  I  disavow  this  asser- 
tion with  indignation." 

Thus  forced  to  prove  its  assertion  the  French  Government 
published  in  full  an  autograph  letter  written  March  31,  1917, 
by  the  Emperor  Charles  to  his  brother-in-law,  Prince  Sixte  of 
Bourbon,  and  by  him  sent  to  President  Poincare.  In  it  were 
the  words,  "I  beg  you  to  convey  secretly  and  unofficially  to 
Poincare,  President  of  the  French  Republic,  that  J  shall  sup- 
port by  every  means,  and  using  all  my  personal  influence  with 
my  allies,  the  French  just  claims  regarding  Alsace-Lorraine." 
Count  Czernin  at  once  resigned. 

The  long  debate  between  the  leaders  of  the  warring  nations 
came  to  an  end  with  a  speech  from  President  Wilson  at  Balti- 
more, on  April  6,  1918.  On  that  day,  "the  anniversary  of  our 
acceptance  of  Germany's  challenge  to  fight  for  our  right  to  live 


460     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

and  be  free,"  the  drive  for  the  third  Liberty  Loan  was  to  begin 
over  all  the  country  and  it  was  to  give  a  formal  opening  to  this 
effort  that  the  President  spoke  at  Baltimore.  "I  call  you  to 
witness,"  he  said  in  the  course  of  the  speech,  "that  at  no  stage 
of  this  terrible  business  have  I  judged  the  purposes  of  Ger- 
many intemperately."  He  had  sought  to  learn  from  the  mouths 
of  her  spokesmen  what  are  her  objects  in  the  war;  had  asked 
them  to  say  plainly  what  it  is  they  seek.  "They  have  answered, 
answered  in  unmistakable  terms.  They  have  avowed  that  it 
is  not  justice  but  dominion  and  the  unhindered  execution  of 
their  own  will."  German  statesmen  were  ready  to  discuss  the 
terms  of  peace.  At  Brest-Litovsk  her  civilian  delegates  pro- 
fessed their  willingness  to  conclude  a  fair  peace  and  give  to  the 
peoples  with  whose  fortunes  they  were  dealing  the  right  to 
choose  their  own  allegiance.  But  her  military  masters  pro- 
claimed a  very  different  purpose.  "Their  purpose  is,  un- 
doubtedly, to  make  all  the  Slavic  peoples,  all  the  free  and  am- 
bitious nations  of  the  Baltic  Peninsula,  all  the  lands  that  Turkey 
has  dominated  and  misruled,  subject  to  their  will  and  ambition, 
and  build  upon  that  dominion  an  empire  of  force." 

Should  such  a  program  be  carried  out  "everything  that 
America  has  lived  for  and  loved  and  grown  great  to  vindicate 
and  bring  to  a  glorious  realization  will  have  fallen  in  utter 
ruin."  "Germany  has  once  more  said  that  force,  and  force 
alone,  shall  decide  whether  justice  and  peace  shall  reign  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  whether  right  as  America  conceives  it  or  domin- 
ion as  she  conceives  it  shall  determine  the  destinies  of  mankind. 
There  is,  therefore,  but  one  response  possible  for  us:  Force, 
force  to  the  utmost,  force  without  stint  or  limit,  the  righteous 
and  triumphant  force  which  shall  make  right  the  law  of  the 
world  and  cast  every  selfish  dominion  down  in  the  dust." 


INDEX 


"Acid  test,  the/'  447. 

Aerschot,  atrocities  at,  28. 

Affidavits,  Stahl's  false  Lusi- 
tania,  104,  167. 

Agriculture,  Department  of, 
war  work,  368,  369. 

Aims,  Belligerents  asked  to 
state,  292-294.  Answer,  295- 
296,  304-307. 

Albert,  Dr.  Heinrich,  papers 
stolen,  170,  171. 

Albert  I.,  King  of  the  Belgians, 
protest  against  German  atro- 
cities, 27-29.  Answer  of  the 
President,  29;  on  war  aims 
note,  303. 

Alcedo  sunk,  426. 

Alien-enemies  Act,  418;  shut 
from  seaboard,  419;  and 
Panama  Zone,  419. 

Alien-enemy  property  custo- 
dian, 418. 

Alliance — The  German-Ameri- 
can, 24,  25,  36,  38,  137,  263- 
264,  328. 

Allies — on  submarine  blockade, 
77;  on  censorship  of  mails, 
268;  on  the  Deutschland,  272, 
273-274;  on  German  peace 
note,  295-296;  on  war  aims, 
302-304;  on  our  entrance  in- 
to the  war,  360-363;  the 
Pope's  peace  note,  404;  Rus- 
sian offer  to,  434,  435,  440, 
443,  444. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  306,  404,  406, 
447,  449,  458-459. 

American  Commission  for  Re- 
lief in  Belgium,  47-49,  285- 
289,  337. 


"American  Day"  in  London, 
362-363. 

American  Embargo  Conference, 
work  of,  234-236. 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
address  to  Russia,  399-400. 

American  Independence  Union, 
139. 

American  League  to  Limit  Ar- 
mament, 135. 

American  Neutrality  League, 
137. 

American  Peace  and  Arbitra- 
tion League,  129. 

American  Peace  Society,  137. 

American  Union  against  Mili- 
tarism, 321. 

Americans,  in  the  warring  coun- 
tries, 14-17;  in  London,  15; 
relief  for,  15, 16;  in  Germany, 
14-15. 

Ancona  sunk,  202,  203;  demand 
of  U.  S.,  203,  204;  reply  of 
Austria,  205-207 ;  Labor's 
Peace  Council  on,  208;  an- 
swer to  Austria's  note,  208- 
209 ;  reply  of  Austria,  209. 

Andrassy,  Count  Julius,  on 
peace  offer,  300. 

Antilles  transport  sunk,  426. 

Anti-war  demonstrations,  387- 
388,  392-394. 

Appam,  the,  captured  by  Ger- 
man raider;  brought  to  New- 
port News;  case  of,  265-267; 
action  of  von  Bernstorff,  266; 
action  of  Lansing,  267 ;  action 
of  Court,  267. 

Arabia  sunk;  American  lives 
lost,  279;  German  note  on, 


461 


462 


INDEX 


280-281;  Great  Britain  on, 
281. 

Arabic  sunk;  American  lives 
lost,  123,  124;  German- 
American  press  on,  125; 
Bryan  on,  126;  Bernstorff  on, 
126-127;  von  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg  on,  128;  liners  not  to  be 
sunk  without  warning,  128; 
Germany  disavows  sinking, 
198-199;  will  pay  damages, 
200. 

Archibald,  J.  J.  F. ;  papers 
seized,  173,  174,  413. 

Argentina,  363. 

Armed  merchantmen ;  Ger- 
many's position,  215;  Allies' 
position,  215;  Germany  will 
treat  as  auxiliary  cruisers, 
241,  243.  Lansing  proposes 
disarmament,  241-242;  reso- 
lution in  Senate,  243;  Mc- 
Lemore  resolutions,  244-245; 
Fuller  resolution,  245.  Sen- 
ator Stone  to  the  President, 
246-247 ;  President's  reply, 
247;  Speaker  Clark,  248; 
Bryan  on,  248;  Gore  resolu- 
tion, 249;  Jones  resolutions, 
249.  President  forces  vote, 
251;  Gore  resolution,  251; 
McLemore  resolution  defeat- 
ed, 252. 

Armed-neutrality.  President 
asks  power  to  arm  merchant 
ships,  340;  bill  passed  by 
House,  342 ;  filibuster  in  Sen- 
ate, 344-345;  protest  of  Sen- 
ators, 345;  rules  amended 
and  bill  passed,  347. 

Armenian  sunk,  120,  121. 

Armistice,  Bolsheviki  declare 
-for,  434;  signed  at  Brest-Li- 
tovsk,  440. 

Army,  President's  plan  for  in- 
crease, 231 ;  bills  for  increase, 
231-232,  252-253;  bill  signed 


by  President,  254;  sent  to 
Mexican  border,  253;  troops 
to  be  sent  to  France,  377; 
mobilization,  378-379 ;  re- 
cruiting, 379-380;  bill  to  in- 
crease, 383-385;  the  draft 
act,  385;  proclamation,  385- 
386;  registration,  387;  draw- 
ing the  numbers,  388-389; 
first  in  France,  394-395; 
troopship  sunk,  427;  fighting 
begins,  428,  429 ;  at  Cambrai, 
429;  St.  Mihiel  salient,  430; 
in  the  Champaigne,  430; 
Chemin-des-Dames,  Lune- 
ville,  430;  casualties,  430; 
Pershing's  offer,  431 ;  number 
in  France,  432. 

Asphyxiating  gas,  Dernburg  on, 
150. 

Asquith,  Herbert  Henry,  on  our 
break  with  Germany,  330;  on 
our  declaration  of  war,  361. 

Atrocities.  The  Kaiser  charges 
Belgium,  26 ;  France  charges 
Germany,  27 ;  Belgium 
charges  Germany,  28,  29; 
President  Wilson  answers  the 
Kaiser,  27 ;  and  Belgium,  29 ; 
at  Louvain  and  Vise,  etc.,  29, 
30 ;  von  Bernstorff  on,  29,  30 ; 
German  press  on,  30 ;  German 
pamphlets,  31,  32;  German 
professors  on,  33;  Bernstorff 
charges  manufacture  of  dum- 
dum bullets  in  U.  S.,  36 ;  de- 
portation of  Belgians,  281- 
289. 

Attorney-General  of  U.  S.  Ap- 
peals to  State  authorities, 
187,  188. 

Austria-Hungary.  The  Sera- 
jevo  murder,  1 ;  ultimatum  to 
Serbia,  3;  attempt  of  Pow- 
ers to  localize  the  war,  4,  5; 
mediation  offered,  6;  war  de- 
clared on  Serbia,  5;  Kussia 


INDEX 


mobilizes,  7,  8 ;  Germany  acts, 
9 ;  reservists  in  U.  S.,  17 ;  pro- 
test against  munition  ship- 
ments, 152-153;  reply  of  Lan- 
sing, 154-155;  Dumba's  let- 
ters, 176-179 ;  Dumba  recalled 
on  request,  175;  Ancona  sunk, 
202-203;  Austrian  Admiral- 
ty on  Ancona,  202-203;  de- 
mand of  U.  S.,  203-204;  Aus- 
trian reply,  205-207;  answer 
to  the  reply,  208-209;  Aus- 
tria's reply,  209-210;  Persia 
sunk,  210;  Austria  explains, 
210-211;  Austria  answers 
President's  note,  298;  severs 
diplomatic  relations,  359 ; 
ships  in  our  ports  seized,  359 ; 
reception  of  President's  an- 
swer to  the  Pope's  peace  note, 
409;  war  in  Italy,  433;  the 
President  on  Austria,  437; 
our  declaration  of  war  on, 
439;  peace  negotiations  at 
Brest-Litovsk,  440-443,  448, 
455-457;  treaty  of  Brest- 
Litovsk,  457;  Count  Czernin 
on  peace  negotiations,  441 ; 
on  Lloyd  George,  445 ;  an- 
swer to,  450;  to  the  Presi- 
dent, 458;  the  Prince  Sixte 
letter,  459. 

Azores,  The  islands;  war  zone 
around,  428. 

Baker,  Newton  D.,  Secretary  of 
War,  241. 

Bakers,  licensed,  419. 

Balfour,  Arthur  James,  on 
President's  note  to  belliger- 
ents, 305-307;  High  Com- 
missioner to  U.  S.,  364. 

Barthelme,  George;  to  Cologne 
Gazette  on  break  with  Ger- 
many, 331-332. 

Behnke,  Admiral,  on  use  of  sub- 
marines, 70,  71. 


Belgium.  Will  her  neutrality 
be  respected?  8;  answer  of 
France,  8,  9;  of  Germany,  9; 
German  ultimatum  to,  9 ;  an- 
swers of,  10 ;  appeals  to  Great 
Britain,  10 ;  Germany  will  not 
annex,  10;  will  not  respect 
her  neutrality,  10,  11;  the 
"scrap  of  paper,"  11;  protest, 
to  the  President,  27,  28,  29; 
answer  of  the  President,  29 ; 
von  Bernstorff  on  atrocities 
in,  29,  30;  relief  for,  44-50; 
deportations  from,  281-289 ; 
Belgian  women  protest,  284; 
Belgian  Minister  protests, 
285 ;  action  of  U.  S.,  285-289 ; 
on  President's  war  aims  note, 
303 ;  relief  taken  over  by  Hol- 
land, 337. 

Bernhardi,  General  Friedrich 
von,  letter,  257. 

Bernstorff,  Count  J.  H.  von, 
German  Ambassador.  On 
atrocities,  29,  30;  charges 
manufacture  of  dum-dum  bul- 
lets in  U.  S.,  36,  37 ;  on  food- 
stuffs order,  62 ;  delivers  reply 
to  protest  on  submarines,  70; 
Lusitania  note,  92,  101-102; 
sends  agent  to  Berlin,  104; 
submits  a  false  affidavit,  104, 
167;  on  the  Arabic,  127; 
promises  liners  will  not  be 
sunk  without  warning,  128- 
129;  protest  against  Wilhel- 
mina  case  and  shipments  of 
munitions,  145-147 ;  on  letters 
stolen  from  Albert,  170,  171, 
172;  on  the  seized  papers, 
181,  182;  notifies  Secretary 
of  State  of  recall  of  Boy-Ed 
and  von  Papen,  188;  on  the 
Arabic,  198;  on  propaganda, 
255;  on  seizure  of  von  Igel 
papers,  261 ;  case  of  the  Ap- 
pam,  265-267;  delivers  note 


464 


INDEX 


on  ruthless  submarine  war, 
279;  dismissed,  324;  attempts 
to  influence  Congress,  411- 
412,  414-415. 

Berwindvale  sunk,  217. 

Bethmann-Hollweg,  Dr.  Theo- 
bald von.  On  the  Arabic, 
128;  on  severance  of  rela- 
tions with  Germany,  338- 
339. 

Bey,  A.  Eustem,  Turkish  Am- 
bassador, dismissed,  35. 

Blacklist;  the  British  act,  274; 
protest  of  TJ.  S.,  274-275 ;  re- 
ply of  Great  Britain,  276. 

Blockade,  the  submarine.  North 
Sea  Zone,  54;  German  War 
Zone,  62-64,  71-73;  U.  S. 
suggests  an  agreement,  75-76 ; 
answer  of  the  Allies,  77,  78- 
79. 

Bolivia  breaks  with  Germany, 
363. 

Bolsheviki ;  overthrow  Provi- 
sional Government,  433;  "no 
annexations,  no  indemnities," 
433,  434;  Council  of  People's 
Commissaries,  434 ;  offer 
armistice,  434 ;  Trotzky's 
policy,  434-435;  send  peace 
delegates  to  Germans,  435; 
Brest- Li tovsk,  435 ;  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities,  435 ;  Allies 
to  define  attitude,  435;  armi- 
stice, 440;  peace  negotiations, 
440;  Count  Czernin  on,  441; 
terms  discussed,  440-443 ;  Al- 
lies given  time  to  join  nego- 
tiations, 441;  negotiations  re- 
sumed, 448;  broken  off,  Rus- 
sia out  of  the  war,  455-456; 
Germans  invade  Eussia,  456- 
457;  treaty  of  Brest-Litovsk 
signed,  457;  President's  mes- 
sage to  people  of  Eussia,  457- 
458;  Gompers  to  Congress  of 
Soviets,  457-458. 


Bombs,  dropped  on  Belgian 
towns,  29;  on  vessels  of  the 
Allies,  156,  157,  183,  262; 
on  the  Cushing,  86,  101,  105. 

Boy-Ed,  Captain  Karl,  Naval 
attache,  93,  162,  169,  171, 
189;  recalled,  188. 

Boy  Scouts,  368. 

Brazil  breaks  with  Germany, 
363. 

Bread.  Bakers  licensed,  419; 
Victory  Bread,  425. 

Brest-Litovsk.  Suspension  of 
hostilities,  435;  peace  terms 
discussed,  440-443 ;  negotia- 
tions resumed,  448;  negotia- 
tions broken  off,  Eussia  out 
of  the  war,  455 ;  Germany  in- 
vades Eussia,  456-457;  treaty 
signed,  457. 

Brincken,  Baron  George  Wil- 
liam von,  190. 

Brindilla,  the,  seized,  52. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  Secretary  of 
State.  To  von  Bernstorff  on 
dum-dum  bullets,  37;  to  Sen- 
ator Stone  on  unneutral  acts, 
39-44 ;  protests  against  deten- 
tion of  U.  S.  ships,  54-56 ;  on 
misuse  of  our  flag,  65,  66 ;  on 
German  war  zone,  66;  on 
regulation  of  submarine  war- 
fare, 75,  76;  first  Lusitania 
note,  95-97;  resigns,  106; 
statement  by,  107;  German- 
Americans  approve,  108;  ap- 
peal "To  the  American  Peo- 
ple," 111;  "To  the  German- 
Americans,"  112;  speech  at 
New  York  City,  113-114;  con- 
fers with  Dumba,  114-115; 
on  sinking  of  Arabic,  126 ;  on 
armed  merchantmen,  245, 
252;  on  resumption  of  ruth- 
less submarine  war,  321;  ap- 
peal against  war,  325. 

Buenos  Aires,  363 ;  "spurlos  ver- 


INDEX 


465 


senkt"  note,  409-410;  effect 
of,  411. 

Biinz,  Carl,  162,  165,  166. 

Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domes- 
tic Commerce,  370. 

Burgess,  John  W.  Endorses 
"Truth  About  Germany,"  31. 

Burian,  Baron,  186. 

Busse,  T.  F.,  261. 

Caine,  Hall.  On  President's 
note  to  belligerents,  299;  on 
"peace  without  victory/'  312; 
"American  Day"  in  London, 
362-363. 

California  sunk,  329. 

Cambon,   Paul,   11. 

Cambrai,  American  troops  at, 
429. 

Carib  sunk,  82. 

Cassin  torpedoed,  426. 

Causes  of  the  war,  as  stated  by 
the  President,  350-355;  by 
House  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  356-359. 

Censorship  Board,  418. 

Censorship  of  foreign  language 
press,  418,  419. 

Censorship  of  the  mails,  40, 
267-270;  of  cables,  39. 

Chamberlain,  Senator.  Bill  for 
national  defense,  252-253, 
254. 

Chauncey,  destroyer,  sunk,  426. 

Chemin-des-Dames,  American 
troops,  430. 

Chemung  sunk,  280. 

Chicago.    Pro-Germanism,  394. 

Chili,  363. 

China  enters  the  war,  403. 

City  of  Memphis  sunk,  349. 

Clark,  Champ,  Speaker  of  H. 
R.  Action  on  McLemore  res- 
olution, 247-248. 

Clearances.  False  ones  obtajned 
by  Hamburg-American  line, 
162;  in  San  Francisco,  190; 


262-263;  not  granted  Oden- 
wald,  83. 

Clemenceau,  Georges.  Dispute 
with  Count  Czernin;  the 
Prince  Sixte  letter,  458-459. 

Coal.  Price  fixed,  420;  Gar- 
field  Administrator,  420 ; 
shortage  of,  420-424. 

Coaling  of  German  warships, 
43,  162,  163,  164,  165,  166. 

Columbian  sunk,  279. 

Commerce.  Effect  of  war  on, 
13,  20,  40,  51-81;  our  ships 
detained,  52,  53,  58-60; 
North  Sea  war  zone;  54;  pro- 
test against  detention  of 
ships,  54-56;  British  answer, 
56-57;  the  Dado,  and  Wil- 
helmina,  59-60,  61,  62;  Ger- 
man order  as  to  foodstuffs,  60, 
61;  German  war  zone,  65- 
66. 

Commissions,  The  High;  from 
Great  Britain,  364;  from 
France,  364. 

Community  Gardens,  369. 

"Concert  of  free  peoples,"  294. 

"Condonation,  entire  and  recip- 
rocal," 404. 

Congress.  Aids  stranded  Amer- 
icans, 16;  Ship  Registry 
Bill,  21 ;  War  Risk  Insurance, 
21;  asked  to  stop  munition 
shipments,  35-36;  President's 
speeches  to ;  on  more  revenue, 
21-22 ;  preparedness,  134-137 ; 
President's  speech,  134-135 ; 
Sussex  address,  219-221 ; 
President  on  hyphenates  and 
preparedness,  192-193 ;  resolu- 
tions on,  193 ;  annual  speech, 
230-231 ;  resolutions,  231- 
232;  did  Great  Britain  warn 
her  subjects  not  to  travel  on 
ships  of  belligerents?  232- 
233;  petition  for  embargo, 
234;  the  great  petition,  234; 


466 


INDEX 


work  of  American  Embargo 
Conference,  234-236 ;  Hay 
bill,  239-240 ;  action  on  armed 
merchantmen,  243-244 ;  Mc- 
Lemore  resolutions,  244-245; 
Gore  resolutions,  247,  251; 
action  of  the  President,  246- 
247;  Bryan  on,  245,  252; 
President  forces  a  vote,  251; 
army  enlarged,  231-232,  252- 
253,  383,  385;  retaliation  for 
Blacklist,  270,  274;  Senate 
endorses  President's  call  for 
statement  of  aims,  292-294; 
President's  "peace  without 
victory  speech,"  307-310; 
speech  on  severance  of  rela- 
tions with  Germany,  322-324; 
bill  to  arm  merchantmen, 
340,  342,  344 ;  President  asks 
power  to  arm,  240-241;  the 
Senate  filibuster,  344-345 ; 
"little  group  of  willful  men/' 
347;  Senate  rules  amended, 
347;  special  session  65th 
Congress  called,  347;  war 
message,  350-355;  resolution 
declaring  war,  355,  356; 
causes  of  war,  356-359 ;  Food 
Control  Bill,  374;  war  meas- 
ures, 417. 

Conservation  of  Food,  370;  the 
President  on,  373-374;  Food 
Control  Bill,  374;  Hoover 
Food  Administrator,  376 ; 
policy  of  announced,  376. 

Contraband,  51,  52,  53,  55-56, 
56-57,  59-62,  73-74,  84,  96. 

Conventions,  National  Nomi- 
nating. Democratic  Party  on 
hyphenates,  264-265;  Repub- 

1  lican  Party  on  hyphenates, 
265. 

Copper,  52,  53,  55,  56,  57. 

Costa  Rica,  363. 

Cotton,  57.  Case  of  Dacia,  58, 
59. 


Council  of  National  Defense, 
366. 

Council  of  Workmen's  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates,  398,  399,402. 

Courland,  lost  to  Russia,  457. 

Cronholm,  Folke,  411. 

Crowley,  Charles  C.,  190. 

Cuba  declares  war,  363. 

Gushing  bombed,  86,  101,  105. 

Czernin,  Count  V.  zu  Chude- 
nitz.  On  Russian  peace 
terms,  441;  Lloyd  George  on 
Czernin's  Speech,  445;  an- 
swers Lloyd-George  and  the 
President,  450;  answers 
President's  4  points  speech, 
458;  dispute  with  Clemen- 
ceau,  458-459;  the  Prince 
Sixte  letter,  459. 

Dacia,  the.    Case  of,  58,  59. 

Deache,  Paul,.  183;  sent  to 
prison,  263. 

Declaration  of  London,  51,  63, 
71. 

Declarations  of  war.  Austria 
on  Serbia,  7;  Germany  on 
Russia,  9 ;  on  Belgium,  9 ;  on 
France,  10;  Great  Britain  on 
Germany,  10,  11;  Japan,  24; 
Italy,  100 ;  China,  403 ;  Cuba, 
363;  United  States  on  Ger- 
many, 355-356,  359;  on  Aus- 
tria, 439. 

"Deliberately  unfriendly." 
Third  Lusitania  note,  122. 

Democratic  Party.  Platform  on 
hyphenates,  264-265. 

Denmark  protests  against  war 
zone  and  mines,  54;  exports 
to,  56,  57. 

Deportations  from  Belgium, 
281-289. 

Dernburg,  Dr.  Bernhard,  23; 
propaganda  work,  34;  on 
sinking  of  Lusitania,  91;  on 
conditions  of  peace,  148-150. 


INDEX 


467 


Deutschland,  the.  Arrival  at 
Baltimore,  271-273;  at  New 
London,  273;  protest  of  the 
Allies,  273-274;  reply  of  the 
U.  S.,  274. 

Dillon,  John,  on  "peace  with- 
out victory,"  312. 

Diplomatic  relations.  Threat 
to  sever,  219-221;  effect  at 
home  and  abroad,  221-224; 
severed  with  Germany,  324- 
327,  328,  329.  Austria  sev- 
ers relations  with  United 
States,  359. 

Disarmament  of  merchant  ships, 
241-242 ;  Germany's  action, 
242-243;  in  Congress,  243- 
246;  action  of  the  President, 
346-348 ;  Bryan  on,  348,  350 ; 
in  Congress,  351-352. 

District  of  Columbia,  alien  ene- 
mies shut  from,  419. 

Draft,  the  selective.  The  act, 
383-385;  the  President  on, 
386;  opposition  to,  387-388; 
number  registered,  388 ;  draw- 
ing the  numbers,  388 ;  the  call 
to  the  colors;  the  President 
to  the  men,  390-391;  God- 
speed to  the  boys,  391-392; 
pro-German  propaganda,  392- 
394. 

Dumba,  Dr.  Constantine,  Aus- 
trian Ambassador.  Bryan 
confers  with,  114,  115;  the 
Archibald  papers,  173-175; 
request  for  recall,  175;  let- 
ters, 176-179. 

Dum-dum  bullets,  26;  Bern- 
storff  on,  36. 

Eagle  Point  sunk.  Americans 
lost,  217,  218. 

Eavestone,  the,  sunk,  329. 

Eckhardt,  von.  German  minis- 
ter to  Mexico,  letter  from, 
411. 


Edelsheim,  General  von.  On 
war  with  U.  S.,  132-133. 

Embargo  on  export  of  muni- 
tions, 36,  37,  38;  American 
League  to  Limit  Armament, 
135;  'bills  offered  in  Senate 
and  House,  136,  137;  Journal 
of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  136 ; 
American  Peace  Society ; 
German-American  Alliance, 
137;  American  Neutrality 
League,  137;  reply  of  Bishop 
Rhinelander,  138;  action  of 
foreign  language  newspapers, 
143,  144;  Chicago  election, 
144;  von  Bernstorff  protests, 
145-147;  the  reply,  150-152; 
Austria  protests,  152-153 ; 
reply  of  Mr.  Lansing,  154- 
155;  the  Dumba  letters,  176- 
179;  monster  petition,  234; 
activities  of  American  Em- 
bargo Conference,  234-236. 

Embargo  on  food,  370-371. 

Englishman  sunk,  216,  217, 
357. 

Evelyn,  the,  sunk  by  sub- 
marine, 82. 

Exports,  increase  to  neutrals, 
55,  56,  57;  to  neutrals,  370- 
371. 

Faldba.     Sunk    by    submarine, 

82,  85,  101. 
Farmers'  Xon-Partisan  League, 

393. 
Farmers.     President  appeals  to, 

367. 

Fay,  Robert,  183. 
Felbrueck.  Hans.    On  feeling  in 

Germany,  339. 
Ferdinand,     Archduke     Franz, 

murdered,  1. 
Filibuster    in     Senate    against 

armed-neutrality     bill,     344- 

345;   the    President's   appeal 

to  the  people;  "little  group  of 


468 


INDEX 


willful  men/'  345-347;  rules 
amended,  347. 

Finland.     Lost  to  Kussia,  457. 

Finland,   transport,   sunk,   426. 

Flag  Day.  President's  speech, 
264.  Hexamer's  speech,  264. 

Flag  note.  U.  S.  protests 
against  use  of  flag,  65,  66,  67 ; 
reply  of  Great  Britain,  67, 
68 ;  reply  of  Germany,  70,  71- 
73. 

Foch,  General,  431. 

Food.  President  appeals  to 
Farmers,  367;  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  on  need,  368; 
Hoover  on,  369-370;  call  for 
young  men  for  farming,  368 ; 
Community  gardens,  368-369 ; 
Hoover  on  waste,  370;  con- 
servation of,  370;  export  to 
neutrals,  370-372;  Food  Con- 
trol Bill,  374-375;  Hoover, 
Food  Administrator,  376; 
announces  policy,  376;  prices 
of  wheat,  flour  and  bread 
regulated,  376,  377;  bakeries 
licensed,  419;  prices  regulat- 
ed, 420. 

Food  Control  Bill,  374;  put  in 
force,  418. 

Food  Supply  and  Prices,  Com- 
mittee on,  367. 

Food.  United  States  Food  Ad- 
ministration, 370. 

Foodstuffs,  to  neutrals,  55 ;  case 
of  Wilhelmina,  59,  60;  Ger- 
many on,  60,  61;  von  Bern- 
storff  on,  62;  U.  S.  on,  76; 
Germany  on,  76 ;  embargo  on, 
370-371 ;  to  neutrals,  371. 

"Forcible  resistance/'  109,  121, 
129. 

Ford  Peace  Party,  140-143. 

France.  Time  for  Serbia,  5; 
will  respect  Belgian  neutral- 
ity, 8,  9,  mobilizes,  9;  Ger- 
many declares  war,  10 ;  Kaiser 


charges  use  of  dum-dum  bul- 
lets, 26;  protest  of  Poincare, 
27;  Eheims  Cathedral,  30; 
relief  for  northern,  50;  Ger- 
man war  zone,  62-65;  reply 
to  U.  S.  note  on  submarine 
blockade,  77,  78,  79;  on  cen- 
sorship of  the  mails,  268; 
Lansing's  reply,  269;  on  the 
DeutsMand,  269,  273-274; 
on  German  peace  note,  295- 
296;  on  war  aims,  303-304; 
German  war  zone,  317-318 ;  on 
our  entrance  into  the  war, 
360;  sends  mission  to  U.  S., 
364;  the  Pope's  peace  note, 
404;  American  army  in,  377, 
394-395,  428-432;  war  in, 
403,  433 ;  Alsace-Lorraine, 
306,  404,  406,  447,  449,  458 ; 
Prince  Sixte  letter,  458-459. 

Freedom  of  the  Seas,  109,  121, 
309,  340. 

Fritzen,  Alfred,  261. 

Frye,  William  P.,  sunk  by  Ger- 
man raider,  82;  the  case  of, 
84-85,  199. 

Fuel  saving,  421-424. 

Fuller,  resolution  on  armed 
ships,  245. 

Gardner,  Augustus.  On  pre- 
paredness, 133,  134,  233. 

Garfield,  Harry  A.  Appointed 
fuel  administrator,  419;  coal 
shortage,  420-424 ;  heatless 
days  ordered,  422-423. 

Garrison,  Lindley  M.,  Secretary 
of  War.  On  preparedness, 
239;  resigns,  240. 

Gerard,  James  W.,  American 
Ambassador  at  Berlin.  Speech 
in  Berlin,  300;  recalled,  324; 
treatment  of  by  Germany, 
334-335. 

German-Americans,  26 ;  as!: 
Congress  to  stop  munition 


INDEX 


469 


shipments,  38 ;  charges 
against  the  U.  S.,  39-44. 
Bryan  appeals  to,  112;  Pres- 
ident on,  192-193,  263;  de- 
nounce the  President  and 
Roosevelt,  263;  Saengerbund, 
194;  political  action,  263; 
Democratic  platform  on,  264- 
265 ;  Republican  platform  on, 
265. 

German- American  Alliance. 
Appeal  to  President  to  use  his 
good  offices  with  Japan,  24, 
25;  on  shipment  of  muni- 
tions, 36,  38,  137;  Roosevelt 
to,  263-264;  Hexamer  on, 
264;  on  severance  of  diplo- 
matic relations,  328. 

Germany.  Warns  the  Powers, 
4;  asked  to  join  a  conference, 
6 ;  asked  to  join  in  mediation, 
7;  seeks  British  neutrality,  7, 
8;  demands  Russia  demobi- 
lize, 8;  declares  war  on  Rus- 
sia, 9;  mobilizes  and  enters 
Luxemburg,  9;  ultimatum  to 
Belgium,  9;  declares  war  on 
France,  10;  the  "scrap  of  pa- 
per," 11 ;  war  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, 11;  ships  in  our  ports, 
13;  Americans  in,  14,  15; 
German  propaganda,  23-26; 
the  Kaiser  protests  to  U.  S., 
26;  answer  of  the  President, 
27;  Bernstorff  on  atrocities, 
29,  30;  on  dum-dum  bullets, 
36 ;  Declaration  of  London, 
51,  63,  71 ;  foodstuffs,  60,  61 ; 
case  of  the  Wilhelmina.  59,  60, 
61,  62  ;  War  Zone  around  Brit- 
ish Isles,  61-65 ;  use  of  mines, 
53,  64;  U.  S.  protest  against 
war  zone,  66;  reply,  71-73; 
Admiral  Behncke  on  use  of 
submarines,  70,  71 ;  U.  S.  pro- 
poses regulation.  75,  76;  an- 
swer, 76;  "strict  accountabil- 


ity," 66 ;  sinking  of  Lusitania, 
86-91;  medal  struck,  100; 
first  Lusitania  note,  101-102 ; 
second  Lusitania  note,  109- 
111;  answer;  will  permit  use 
of  "reasonable  number  of  neu- 
tral steamers  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag,"  118;  Nebraskan 
note,  120;  third  Lusitania 
note,  "deliberately  unfriend- 
ly," 121;  Arabic  sunk,  123, 
124,  von  Bernstorff's  note, 
126-127;  von  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg  on,  128;  von  Bernstorff 
promises  liners  will  not  be 
sunk  without  warning,  128- 
129;  Hesperian  sunk,  129- 
130;  disavows  part  in  con- 
spiracies, 195-197;  disavows 
responsibility  for  sinking  of 
Arabic,  198 ;  case  of  the  Frye, 
199 ;  case  of  the  Orduna,  200; 
note  on  submarines,  211,  214; 
Sussex  sunk,  215-216;  denial 
by  Germany,  218;  U.  S. 
threatens  to  sever  diplomatic 
relations,  219-221;  admits 
sinking  Sussex,  224-226;  the 
Sussex  pledge,  226;  note  on 
armed  merchantmen,  241- 
243 ;  disavows  support  of 
plotters,  255 ;  Dr.  Albert's  pa- 
pers, 170-171 ;  Archibald 
papers,  173-174;  von  Papen 
papers,  255-257 ;  confession 
of  von  der  Goltz,  257-260; 
case  of  the  Appam,  265-267; 
the  Deuischland,  271-274;  the 
U-58  sinks  ships  off  Nantuck- 
et,  276-277;  note  on  Arabia, 
280-281;  deportation  of  Bel- 
gians, 281-289;  peace  offer, 
291-292;  answer  of  Lloyd 
George,  292;  President  asks 
belligerents  to  state  aims, 
292-294;  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria answer  President,  298; 


470 


INDEX 


note  to  neutral  nations,  304; 
resumes  ruthless  submarine 
war,  315;  war  zone  around 
British  Isles  and  Mediterra- 
nean, 316-318;  American 
ships  to  be  striped,  316-317; 
diplomatic  relations  with  sev- 
ered, 322-324;  sinkings  re- 
sumed, 329;  offer  to  discuss, 
330-331;  answer,  331;  Yar- 
rowdale  prisoners,  333,  334; 
treatment  of  Gerard,  334, 
335 ;  seeks  to  amend  Prussian 
treaties,  335-336;  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  on  severance  of  rela- 
tions, 338-339;  Hans  Del- 
brueck  on,  339 ;  proposes  Mex- 
ico-Japanese alliance  against 
U.  S.,  343;  U-boat  sinks 
three  American  vessels,  349; 
TJ.  S.  declares  war  on,  350- 
355,  359;  effect  of  declara- 
tion on  her  South  American 
relations,  363;  vessels  in  our 
ports  seized,  366;  number  of 
ships  sunk  by,  397;  the  war 
in  France,  397;  offers  Russia 
an  armistice,  401;  collapse  of 
Russia,  402 ;  the  Pope's  peace 
note,  403-406;  answer  of  the 
President,  406-407;  German 
press  on,  408-409;  Luxburg's 
"spurlos  versenkt"  note,  409- 
411;  the  von  Eckhardt  note, 
411;  von  Bernstorff  seeks  to 
influence  Congress,  411-412 ; 
von  Igel  papers  seized,  412; 
disclosures,  412-415;  destroys 
our  naval  vessels,  426-427; 
war  zone  around  Azores,  428 ; 
our  troops  fight,  428,  429; 
armistice  with  Russia,  435, 
440 ;  Brest-Litovsk  treaty, 
440-444,  448,  455;  involves 
Russia,  456-457;  treaty  of 
Brest-Litovsk,  457 ;  peace 
with  Roumania,  459;  Count 


Hertling  on  basis  of  peace, 
448,  454-455. 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  on  Belgian 
relief,  47. 

Gibson,  Hugh.  Belgian  relief 
work,  45,  46. 

Goltz,  Major  von  der.  Confes- 
sion of  conspiracy,  257-260; 
brought  to  U.  S.,  261. 

Gore,  Senator.  Bills  to  forbid 
American  citizens  to  travel 
on  ships  of  belligerents,  and 
issuance  of  passports,  232; 
resolution  on  travel,  232;  on 
armed  ships,  249,  251. 

Goricar,  Joseph,  183-186. 

Great  Britain.  Sir  E.  Grey 
seeks  to  prevent  war,  5,  6,  7; 
Germany  bids  for  neutrality, 
7;  the  "scrap  of  paper,"  11; 
enters  the  war,  11;  no  sep- 
arate peace,  11;  American 
refugees  in  London,  15;  on 
Declaration  of  London,  51; 
detains  our  ships,  52,  53; 
North  Sea  a  military  zone, 
54 ;  answers  U.  S.  protest,  56- 
57 ;  case  of  the  Dacia,  58,  59 ; 
case  of  the  Wilhelmina,  59- 
62,  74;  German  War  Zone, 
62-65 ;  uses  our  flag,  65 ;  U.  S. 
flag  note,  66;  reply,  67,  68; 
U.  S.  proposes  regulation  of 
submarine  war,  75-76;  reply 
of  the  Allies,  77;  answer  of 
U.  S.,  77,  78;  reply  of 
France,  78-79 ;  reply  of  Great 
Britain,  79-81;  "Did  Great 
Britain  warn  her  subjects  not 
to  travel  on  ships  of  belliger- 
ents?" 232-233;  case  of  the 
Appam,  265-267 ;  detention 
of  mails,  267-268 ;  contents  of 
the  mails,  268;  reply  of 
Great  Britain  and  France, 
268-269;  case  of  the  Deutsch- 
land,  271-273;  the  "Black-. 


INDEX 


471 


list,"  274,  275-276;  on  the 
Arabfa,  280-281 ;  German 
peace  offer,  290-293;  answer 
of  Lloyd  George,  292 ;  answer 
of  the  Allies,  295-296;  an- 
swer to  President's  note  to 
belligerents,  301-303 ;  Bal- 
four>s  note,  305-307;  As- 
quith  on  our  break  with  Ger- 
many, 330;  Bonar  Law  on, 
330 ;  King  George,  the  War 
Cabinet,  and  Parliament  on 
our  declaration  of  war,  360- 
361 ;  "American  Day"  in  Lon- 
don, 362;  sends  High  Com- 
missioner to  U.  S.,  363-364; 
reception  of  Pershing,  395; 
reception  of  the  Pope's  peace 
note,  404-405;  Lloyd  George 
appeals,  for  troops,  432;  war 
aims,  444-446. 

Greece — a  n  s  w  e  r  s  President's 
note,  298. 

Grew,  Joseph  Clark,  work  in 
Belgium,  285-287. 

Grey,  Sir  E.  Seeks  extension 
of  time  for  Serbia,  5;  pro- 
poses conference  of  Powers, 
6;  proposes  mediation,  7; 
German  bid  for  neutrality,  7, 
8;  asks  if  Belgian  neutrality 
will  be  respected,  8,  9;  the 
"scrap  of  paper,"  11;  on  de- 
tention of  our  ships,  56-57; 
on  use  of  our  flag,  67,  68 ;  on 
submarine  war,  67;  on  Wil- 
helmina,  74-75;  on  censor- 
ship of  mails,  268;  on  the 
Deutschland,  273-274;  on  the 
blacklist,  276. 

Guard,  The  National;  sent  to 
the  Mexican  border,  253; 
federalized,  252-253,  254; 
mobilization,  378-379,  396. 

Gulflight  torpedoed,  86,  88,  101.  > 
105. 


Hague  Conventions,  153,  154; 
case  of  the  Appam,  265-267. 

Hamburg-American  Line.  In- 
dicted, 162;  the  trial,  165, 
166. 

Hay  bill  for  defense,  239-240, 
253. 

Heatless  days,  422-423. 

Hertling,  Count  George  V.  von. 
Answers  Lloyd  George  and 
Wilson,  448;  President  an- 
swers, 450-454;  answers  the 
President,  454-455. 

Hesperian  sunk,  129,  130. 

Hexamer,  Dr.  C.  J.,  24,  25.  On 
hyphenates,  264;  severance  of 
diplomatic  relations,  328. 

Holland.  On  war  zone  and 
mines,  54;  regulation  of  food 
exports,  10,  371;  takes  over 
Belgian  relief  work,  337. 

Holt,  Frank.  Attacks  J.  P. 
Morgan,  156. 

Holtzendorff,  Admiral  von.  De- 
nies U-boat  sank  Sussex,  224. 

Hoover,  Herbert  C.  Belgian  re- 
lief work,  46,  47,  50,  339; 
Chairman  Committee  on  Food 
Supply  and  Prices,  367;  to 
the  Boy  Scouts,  368;  appeals 
to  women  on  food  saving, 
369-370 ;  Food  Administrator, 
376 ;  policy,  376 ;  on  food  sav- 
ing, 424 ;  Victory  Bread,  425 ; 
meatless  days,  wheatless 
meal,  425;  wheatless  days, 
426. 

Hopfer,  General,  deportation  of 
Belgians,  283. 

Horn,  Werner.  Attempts  to 
destroy  bridge,  160,  161. 

HoiLsatonic  sunk,  327. 

Huerta,  Victoiiana.  German 
agent  for  Mexico,  167-169. 

Hustings,  Senator.  On  activi- 
ties of  American  Embargo 
Conference,  234-237. 


472 


INDEX 


Hyphenates,  denounced  by  the 
President,  192,  193;  reply  of 
the  Saengerbund,  194;  the 
President  denounced  by,  263 ; 
President's  Flag  Day  speech, 
264;  Dr.  Hexamer  on,  264; 
Democratic  and  Eepublican 
Party  Platforms  on,  264,  265. 

"Idiotic  Yankees,"  180. 

Igel,  Wolf  von.     Papers  seized, 

261 ;  indicted,  262,  412-415. 
Illinois  sunk,  349. 
Insurance,  Bureau  of  War  Eisk, 

21. 
Interned  German  ships.     Prinz 

Eitel  Friedrich,  82,  85 ;  Kron- 

prinz  Wtthelm,  85. 
Irish-Nationalists   on   the   war, 

25. 

Italy,  enters  the  war,  100;  de- 
feat, 433. 
I.  W.  W.,  opposition  to  draft, 

392;  seizures  of  papers,  394. 

Jacob  Jones,  destroyer,  tor- 
pedoed, 426. 

Jagow,  Gottlieb  von,  10,  11;  on 
the  William  P.  Frye,  84;  on 
first  lAisitania  note,  101,  102 ; 
on  Gul flight  and  Cusliing, 
105;  U.  S.  reply,  109-111; 
answer  of,  117;  note  on  the 
Arabic,  198-199,  200;  denies 
sinking  the  Sussex,  218;  ad- 
mits it,  229. 

Japan.  Ultimatum  to  Germany, 
24 ;  German- American  alli- 
ance on,  24,  25;  Germany 
proposes  she  join  Mexico  in 
war  against  U.  S.,  343. 

Joffre,  General  Joseph  Jacques 
Cesaire.  Visit  to  U.  S.,  364 ; 
receives  Pershing  in  Paris, 
396. 

Jones,  Senator,  on  armed  ships, 
249. 


Journal,  the  Providence,  on 
Lusitania,  87,  88,  92,  93,  104, 
114-115,  144,  145,  167,  168, 
169,  170,  171,  172,  173,  183- 
186,  188,  189,  190,  255-256, 
277-278. 

Kerensky,    Alexander    F.,    399, 

433. 

Kirk  Oswald,  bombs  on,  262. 
Knights  of  Labor,  Journal  of, 

against    aid    to    belligerents, 

136. 

Konig,  Paul,  167. 
Kronprinz    Wtthelm.     German 

raider  enters  Newport  News, 

85. 

Kroonland,  the,  52. 
Kiihlmann,   Dr.   Bichard,   440, 

457. 

Labor's  Peace  Council.  Pro- 
German  work,  190,  191. 

Laconia  sunk;  American  lives 
lost,  342. 

Lamar,  David,  191. 

Lansing,  Bobert,  16;  Secretary 
of  State.  107;  sends  2d  Lusi- 
tania note,  109;  sends  3d 
Lusitania  note,  121;  sends 
Ancona  note,  203;  answers 
Ancona  note,  208;  on  Zim- 
mermann's  statement,  213 ; 
Sussex  note,  219;  on  Sussex 
pledge,  228 ;  asks  Allies  to  dis- 
arm merchantmen;  241-242; 
on  the  Appam  case,  267;  on 
censorship  of  mails,  269-270; 
case  of  the  Deutschland,  273- 
274;  on  the  British  "Black- 
list," 274-276;  on  deportation 
of  Belgians,  285-289;  state- 
ment on  President's  note  to 
belligerents,  294-295 ;  on 
Gerard's  Berlin  speech,  301; 
the  Zimmermann  letter,  343; 
makes  public  Luxburg  letters, 


INDEX 


473 


409-410;  the  von  Eckhardt 
letter,  410. 

Law,  Andrew  Bonar.  On  our 
break  with  Germany,  330. 

Law,  Lyman  H.t  sunk,  341. 

Leelanaw  sunk,  123,  124. 

"League  for  Peace,"  308,  310. 

"League  of  nations/'  293,  308, 
448,  450. 

Lenine,  Nikolai,  399. 

Leuderitz,  Karl  A.  Indicted, 
262. 

Liberty  Loans.  The  first,  380- 
383 ;  the  second,  415-416. 

Licenses  to  manufacture,  375; 
bakeries,  419 ;  alien-enemy, 
418. 

Liebau  Employment  Agency, 
413-414. 

Lithuania,  lost  to  Russia,  457. 

"Little  group  of  willful  men," 
347. 

Liquor,  import  stopped,  375. 

Lloyd  George,  David,  on  Ger- 
man peace  offer,  292;  on  our 
declaration  of  war,  360-361; 
appeal  for  troops,  432 ;  on  war 
aims,  444-445. 

Loans,  to  the  Allies,  380;  to 
Russia,  400,  403. 

London.  American  refugees  inj 
15 ;  "American  Day"  in,  362- 
363. 

Louvain,  atrocities  in,  26,  27, 
28,  30. 

Luneville,  American  troops,  430. 

Lusitania,  uses  American  flag, 
65,  66.  69 ;  the  flag  note,  66 ; 
the  warning,  86-87;  sunk 
by  submarine,  89;  German 
language  press  on,  90;  Dern- 
burg  on,  91 ;  the  German  note, 
92;  first  note,  95-97;  medal 
struck,  100;  German  note, 
101-102 ;  German  language 
press  on,  90,  98,  99.  103 ;  false 
affidavits,  104;  Bryan  resigns, 


106;  second  Lusitania  note, 
109-111;  von  Jagow's  an- 
swer, 117-118 ;  will  permit  use 
of  "neutral  steamers  under 
American  flag,"  118;  British 
press  on  note,  118;  the  Pres- 
ident's "deliberately  un- 
friendly" reply,  122 ;  German 
press  on,  123;  attempt  to 
reach  agreement,  212-213. 

Luxburg,  Count.  "Spurlos  ver- 
senkt"  note,  409-410;  effect 
of  in  Buenos  Aires,  410;  ex- 
planation of  Sweden,  410- 
411. 

Luxemburg,  invaded  by  Ger- 
many, 9. 

"Mails,  The,  as  a  German  War 
Weapon,"  269,  271. 

Modi.  The  Evening.  Bought  by 
German  agents,  171. 

Mails,  censorship  of,  267;  con- 
tents of,  268;  protest  of  TJ. 
S.,  269-270. 

McAdoo,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury. On  Liberty  Loan,  415, 
416;  Director  General  of 
Railroads,  420. 

McLemore  resolution  on  armed 
merchantmen,  244-245. 

Manchester  Engineer  sunk,  217, 
218. 

Marina  sunk;  American  lives 
lost,  279;  German  note,  281. 

Meatless  days,  425. 

Medal.  German  Lusitania 
medal,  100. 

Mercier,  Cardinal.  On  Belgian 
relief,  47. 

Mexico.  Huerta.  German  agent 
for,  167-169;  Villistas  raid 
the  border,  253;  troops  called 
out,  253;  Germany  proposes 
she  join  Japan  in  war  on  U. 
S.,  343;  von  Eckhardt  letter, 
411. 


474 


INDEX 


Meyer,  Dr.  F.  W.  Letter  from, 
256. 

Meysenburg,  Baron  von.  Letter, 
256. 

Milwaukee,  393-394. 

Milyukov,  Pavel  Nikolaivich, 
349,  399. 

Mines,  in  the  North  Sea,  53,  54 ; 
protest  of  neutrals,  54;  U.  S. 
on,  75;  Germany  on,  76. 

Minneapolis.  Socialists  at- 
tempts to  hold  anti-war  meet- 
ing, 393. 

Minnesota,  pro-Germanism,  393. 

Mobilization.  Kussia  against 
Austria,  7,  8;  Germany 
against  France,  9;  France 
against  Germany,  9;  Ger- 
many begins  general  mobiliza- 
tion, 9;  of  U.  S.  army,  378- 
379 ;  of  drafted  men,  390 ;  of 
militia,  396. 

Mowe,  German  raider,  sends 
Appam  to  Newport  News, 
265-267. 

Mond,  Sir  Alfred,  362. 

Monnett,  Frank  S.,  191. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  134,  298,  309, 
313,  409. 

Mons,   deportations   from,   283. 

Morgan,  J.  P.,  attacked  by  Holt, 
156. 

Munitions.  Congress  asked  to 
stop  export,  35-36;  protest  of 
von  Bernstorff,  36,  37;  an- 
swer of  the  companies,  37; 
answer  of  Bryan,"  37-38 ;  Ger- 
man-Americans on,  38;  bills 
to  forbid  export  to  belliger- 
ents, 136,  137;  Journal  of 
Knights  of  Labor  on,  136; 
German-American  Alliance 
on,  137;  Bishop  Ehinelander 
on,  138;  German- Americans 
in  Philadelphia,  138-139 ;  in 
Washington,  139,  140;  appeal 
of  the  foreign  language  press, 


143,  144,  145 ;  von  Bernstorff 
protests,  146;  Austria  pro- 
tests, 152-153;  reply  of  Lan- 
sing, 154-155;  Holt  attacks 
Morgan,  156;  von  Bernstorff 
on,  164;  attempts  to  organize 
strikes  in  factories;  Dumba's 
letters,  176-179;  attempt  to 
control,  179-180,  181,  182. 
Federal  statutes,  187,  188; 
Pacific  coast  plots,  190;  peti- 
tions for  embargo  on  export, 
234;  the  monster  petition, 
234 ;  American  Embargo  Con- 
ference, 234-237;  attempts  to 
injure  factories,  413-414. 

National  Security  League,  135. 

Naturalized  Citizens.  Presi- 
dent's "too  proud  to  fight" 
speech,  94. 

Navy.  President's  plan  for  in- 
crease, 231 ;  mobilization, 
379;  recruiting,  380;  disas- 
ters to  our  war  ships,  426- 
427 ;  man-power,  427. 

Nebraskan  sunk,  100;  note  on, 
120. 

Neutrals.  Increase  of  our  trade 
with,  56,  57,  58 ;  Great  Brit- 
ain on  our  trade  with,  56-57; 
protest  against  mine  laying 
and  war  zone,  54;  reply  to 
President's  note,  298;  Ger- 
man note  to,  304;  protest 
against  war  zone,  324-325 ;  ex- 
ports to  regulated,  371;  pro- 
test against  regulation,  372. 

Neutral  rights.  The  Allies  on 
Declaration  of  London,  51, 
52 ;  Great  Britain  detains  our 
ships,  52,  53;  North  Sea  a 
military  zone,  54;  U.  S.  pro- 
tests, 54,  55;  reply  of  Great 
Britain,  56-58;  the  Datia, 
58,  59;  Wilhelmirw,  59-62, 
74;  German  foodstuffs  order, 


INDEX 


475 


60-62 ;  German  Zone  around 
British  Isles,  61-65;  misuse 
of  our  flag,  65,  66;  U.  S.  pro- 
tests against  zone,  66 ;  against 
use  of  U.  S.  flag,  65,  66; 
British  reply,  67,  68;  reply 
of  Germany,  70,  71-73;  U.  S. 
proposes  regulation  of  sub- 
marine war,  75,  76 ;  answer  of 
Germany,  76 ;  policy  of  the  Al- 
lies, 77;  submarine  sinkings; 
the  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich,  82, 
85 ;  the  Frye,  82,  84-85,  199 ; 
the  Odenwald,  83;  the  Kron- 
prinz  Wilhelm,  85;  the  Gush- 
ing, 86,  101,  105;  the  Gul- 
flight,  86,  88,  101,  105;  the 
Lusitania,  86-89;  first  Lusi- 
tania  note,  95-97;  second 
Lusitania  note,  109-111;  von 
Jagow^s  reply.  Germany  will 
permit  "neutral  steamers  un- 
der American  flag,"  118; 
London  press  on  notes,  118; 
Nebraskan  note,  100,  120; 
Armenian  sunk,  120,  121; 
President's  "deliberately  un- 
friendly" warning,  122;  Or- 
duna,  121;  third  Lusitania 
note,  122;  Leelanaw  sunk, 
123;  Arabic  sunk,  123-124; 
Hesperian  sunk,  129,  130; 
Germany  not  responsible  for 
Arabic,  198-199 ;  Ancona 
sunk,  202;  notes  on  the  An- 
cona, 203,  205,  208,  209; 
Persia  sunk,  210-211;  Sussex 
sunk,  215;  Sussex  notes,  218- 
229 ;  Sussex  pledge,  226 ;  Cen- 
tral Powers  on  armed  mer- 
chantmen, 241-243;  Lansing 
on  use  of  submarines,  241- 
242;  resolutions  in  Congress, 
243 ;  McLemore  resolutions, 
244-245 ;  Fuller  resolution, 
245;  excitement  in  Congress, 
245-248 ;  Gore  resolution, 


249,  251 ;  case  of  the  Appam, 
265-267;  censorship  of  mails, 
267-268;  British  Blacklist, 
274,  275-276;  ruthless  sub- 
marine warfare  resumed,  279 ; 
new  war  zones  around  British 
Isles  and  in  Mediterranean, 
316-318;  treatment  of  Amer- 
ican ships,  316-317;  excite- 
ment in  U.  S.,  318-321;  dip- 
lomatic relations  with  Ger- 
many severed,  322-324. 

New  York  City,  Oberburger- 
meister  of  Berlin  to  Mayor, 
32. 

Newspapers — in  Germany,  on 
the  Dacia,  59;  on  Flag  note, 
69;  on  war  zone  protest,  73; 
on  "deliberately  unfriendly" 
note,  123;  Arabic  note,  199; 
on  Ancona  note,  207 ;  on  Sus- 
sex note,  223;  on  relations 
with  the  U.  S.,  301 ;  on  "peace 
without  victory,"  313. 

Newspapers — British,  on  the 
Flag  note,  69 ;  on  "too  proud 
to  fight,"  95;  on  resignation 
of  Bryan,  109 ;  on  Germany's 
Lusitania  note,  118;  on  An- 
cona note,  207 ;  on  President's 
letter  to  Senator  Stone,  249; 
on  Deutschland,  272;  aims  of 
the  Allies,  299;  on  "peace 
without  victory,"  311;  recep- 
tion of  Pershing,  395-396. 

Newspapers — Foreign  language, 
seek  to  cripple  munition  fac- 
tories, 144;  licensed,  418-419. 

Newspapers — The  German- 
American,  propaganda,  23 ; 
The  Fatherland,  24;  on  atroc- 
ities, 30;  on  German  War 
Zone  protest,  69;  on  the  Lus- 
itania, 90;  on  first  Lusitania 
note,  98,  99;  on  Germany's 
reply,  103;  on  resignation  of 
Bryan,  108-109;  President's 


476 


INDEX 


"deliberately  unfriendly" 
warning,  122;  on  sinking  of 
Arabic,  125;  on  the  Hespe- 
rian, 1#1 ;  on  the  Sussex  note, 
222;  on  Sussex  pledge,  227; 
on  President's  League  for 
Peace  speech,  311;  new  war 
zone,  319-320;  on  severance 
of  relations  with  Germany, 
325-326 ;  on  Presidential  can- 
didates, 263;  on  President's 
war  aims  note,  3 00; -on  Ge- 
rard's speech ;  on  severance  of 
diplomatic  relations,  325-326 ; 
on  armed  neutrality,  342;  on 
President's  answer  to  the 
Pope,  408. 

"No  annexations,  no  indemni- 
ties," 399,  401,  404,  433,  436, 
452. 

North  Dakota,  pro-Germanism, 
393. 

North  Sea:  mined  by  Germany, 
53,  54;  made  war  zone  by 
Great  Britain,  54;  German 
war  zone,  62-65 ;  protest  from 
neutrals,  66;  zone  defended 
by  Germany,  70-71. 

"No  quarrel  with  the  German 
people,"  353,  354. 

"No  selfish  ends  to  serve,"  354. 

Odenwald,  case  of  the,  83. 

Oliver,  Sir  Frederick  Scott.  On 
President's  note  to  belliger- 
ents, 299. 

"Omit  any  word  or  any  act,"  97. 

"One  choice  we  cannot  make," 
352. 

Orduna,  121,  201. 

Organization  of  American 
Women  for  Strict  Neutrality, 
monster  petition  from,  234. 

"Our  object  now,"  353. 

"Out  of  the  trenches  by  Christ- 
mas," 141. 

"Overt  acts,"  324. 


Pacifists,  opposition  to  sever- 
ance of  relations  with  Ger- 
many, 328;  to  war  with  Ger- 
many, 351 ;  to  the  draft,  387- 
388 ;  to  registration,  392-394. 

Page,  Walter  H.,  American  Am- 
bassador at  London.  On  Bel- 
gian relief,  45,  47,  48. 

Palermo  sunk,  280. 

Panama  breaks  with  Germany, 
363. 

Papen,  Captain  Franz  von. 
Military  attache,  114;  spy 
work  done  by,  159,  160,  161, 
162,  170,  171,  179-180,  189; 
recalled,  188, 189, 190;  papers 
seized,  relations  with  von 
der  Goltz ;  "idiotic  Yankees'  " 
letter,  180;  recalled,  188; 
farewell,  189-190;  indicted, 
261;  seizure  of  papers,  255- 
257. 

Paraguay,  363. 

Paris.  Eeception  to  Pershing, 
395. 

Parker,  Sir  Gilbert.  On  Belgian 
relief,  49. 

Passports,  false,  14,  158-160, 
358. 

Peace.  The  Ford  peace  party, 
140-143 ;  Dernburg's  seven 
conditions,  148-150 ;  the  Pres- 
ident on,  230;  German  offer, 
290-292;  Emperor  to  his 
army,  291;  offer  sent  to 
Great  Britain  and  France  by 
IT.  S.,  291 ;  answer  of  Russia, 
292;  of  Lloyd  George,  292; 
the  President  asks  belligerents 
to  state  aims,  292-294;  Allies' 
reply  to  German  note,  295- 
296 ;  Emperor  replies  to  Allies 
in  address  to  his  army,  297; 
Senate  endorses  the  President, 
297-298;  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria reply  to  president's  note, 
298;  Swiss  Federal  Council 


INDEX 


477 


reply,  298;  Norway  replies, 
298;  Spain  replies,  298;  Hall 
Caine  on  the  note,  299;  Sir 
F.  S.  Oliver  on  note,  299; 
London  Times  and  Count 
Andrassy,  299-300 ;  Allies  an- 
swer President's  note;  their 
peace  terms,  302;  Belgian 
note,  303;  German  note  to 
neutral  Powers,  304;  Allies' 
note,  305-307 ;  President's 
"peace  without  victory" 
speech,  307-310;  Congress 
amazed,  310;  reception  of 
speech  by  the  press,  310-312 ; 
in  London,  312-313;  Bryan  to 
New  York  Peace  Meeting, 
321 ;  excitement  in  U.  S.,  318- 
321;  Pope's  note,  403-404; 
Allies'  opinion  of  note,  404- 
405;  President's  answer,  406- 
407 ;  German  opinion  of 
note,  408-409;  Brest-Litovsk 
treaty,  440-444 ;  Lloyd-George 
on,  444-445;  Wilson's  14 
points,  446-448 ;  Count 
Hertling  on,  448-449;  Count 
Czernin  on,  450. 

"Peace  without  victory"  speech 
of  the  President,  307-310 ;  re- 
ception of  at  home  and 
abroad,  310-313. 

People's  Council  of  America  for 
Democracy  and  Peace,  393- 
394. 

Pershing,  General  John.  Sent 
to  Mexican  border,  253;  com- 
mander of  our  troops  in 
France,  377;  reception  in 
London,  in  Paris,  394-396. 

Persia,  sunk,  210;  Austrian 
note,  210-211,  357. 

Philadelphia,  pro-Germans  in, 
24,  25,  26,  36,  38;  Belgian 
relief  work,  48;  American 
Neutrality  League,  Bishop 
Khinelander  to,  137-138; 


German-Americans  demand 
embargo  on  munitions,  138- 
139 ;  anti-war  demonstrations, 
387,  392-393. 

Platuria  seized,  52. 

Plots.  German  plots,  conspir- 
acies in  U.  S.  False  pass- 
ports, 158,  159,  160,  162; 
false  clearances,  162,165,166; 
Wedell,  158;  Ruroede,  159, 
160;  Horn,  160-161;  Steg- 
ler,  162;  Hamburg-American 
Line,  162-163,  165-166;  K6- 
nig,  167;  Stahl,  167;  Huerta, 
167-169;  Fay  and  Scholz, 
183 ;  Goricar,  183-186 ;  Crow- 
ley,  190;  von  Brincken,  190; 
Dr.  Albert's  papers,  170; 
seizure  of  Archibald  papers, 
173,  174;  of  Dr.  Albert's  pa- 
pers, 170,  171 ;  Dumba  letters, 
176-179;  dismissed,  173-175; 
von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed  dis- 
missed, 188;  Germany  dis- 
avows support  of  plotters, 
195-197 :  seizure  of  von  Papen 
papers,  255-257;  confession  of 
von  der  Goltz,  257-261;  ar- 
rest of  plotters,  261;  von  Igel 
papers  seized,  261;  convic- 
tions, 262. 

Poincare,  Raymond,  President 
of  France,  protests  to  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  27;  congratu- 
lates President  on  declaration 
of  war,  360. 

Poland,  442,  444,  447,  449,  450, 
451,  453,  457. 

Pope,  The.  Peace  note  to  bel- 
ligerents, 403-404;  reception 
of  note  by  the  Allies,  404-405 ; 
Lord  Robert  Cecil  on,  405; 
reception  of  note  in  U.  S., 
405 ;  reply  of  the  President, 
406-407;  reception  of  the 
note  in  Germany  and  Austria, 
408-409. 


478 


INDEX 


Postmaster  General  on  foreign 
language  newspapers,  418- 
419. 

Preparedness.  Gardner  on,  133 ; 
General  Wood  on,  134;  the 
President's  speech,  134-135; 
National  Security  League, 
135;  Journal  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor,  136 ;  Senator  Cham- 
berlain's bill,  137;  American 
League  to  Limit  Armament, 
135;  bills  and  resolutions  be- 
fore Congress,  133,  136;  the 
President  on,  230-231;  bills 
and  resolutions  in  Congress, 
231-232 ;  the  President's  tour 
of  the  West,  237-238;  Secre- 
tary of  War  on,  239 ;  resigns, 
240 ;  Chamberlain  bill  for  de- 
fense, 255-256;  Hay  bill,  239; 
President  heads  parade, 
264. 

President,  The.  On  war  prices, 
13;  proclaims  neutrality,  18- 
20;  the  Kaiser  protests  to, 
26;  Poincare  protests  to,  27; 
answer  to  the  Kaiser,  27 ;  Bel- 
gium protests  to,  27,  29;  an- 
swer to,  29;  "strict  account- 
ability," 66;  "too  proud  to 
fight,"  94;  first  Lusitama 
note,  95-97;  "omit  any  word 
or  any  act,"  97 ;  second  Lusi- 
tania  note,  109-111;  third 
Lusitama  note,  121-122 ;  "de- 
liberately unfriendly,"  122 ; 
on  preparedness,  134-135;  re- 
ply to  von  Bernstorff's  protest, 
145-147;  denounces  the  hy- 
phenates, 192,  193;  Ancona 
notes,  204,  208;  the  Sussex 
note;  threatens  severance  of 
diplomatic  relations,  219-221; 
on  the  Sussex  pledge,  228- 
229;  on  preparedness,  230- 
231 ;  speeches  in  the  West  on 
preparedness,  237-238;  Secre- 


tary of  War  resigns,  239-240 ; 
action  on  McLemore  resolu- 
tion, 246-247;  forces  a  vote, 
251 ;  signs  bill  for  National 
defense,  254;  denounced  by 
German-Americans,  263 ; 
heads  preparedness  parade, 
264;  Flag  Day  speech,  264; 
asks  belligerents  to  state  aims, 
292-294;  answer  of  the  neu- 
trals, 298;  answer  of  the  Al- 
lies, 295,  296;  of  Belgium, 
296;  of  the  Allies  to  German 
offer,  304-305;  Balfour  an- 
swers note,  305-307;  speech 
to  Congress  on  "peace  with- 
out victory,"  307-310;  severs 
diplomatic  relations  with 
Germany,  322-324;  "overt 
acts,"  324 ;  asks  power  to  arm 
merchantmen,  340-341 ;  fili- 
buster in  the  Senate,  344- 
345;  appeals  to  the  people; 
"little  group  of  willful  men," 
345-347;  given  power  to  arm 
merchantmen,  347;  the  war 
speech,  350-355;  "world  must 
be  made  safe  for  democracy," 
354;  war  declared,  355-356; 
congratulations  from  Entente 
Allies,  360-362;  appeals  to 
farmers,  367;  forbids  exports, 
370 ;  on  price  fixing,  373 ;  ap- 
peal to  women  to  save  food, 
373-374;  Food  Control  Bill, 
374;  declines  to  send  Eoose- 
velt  to  France,  377-378;  on 
increase  of  army,  383;  fixes 
registration  day,  386-387;  to 
the  drafted  men,  390-391 ;  an- 
swer to  the  Pope's  note,  406- 
407,  407-409;  defines  "heat- 
less  days"  order,  423;  on  the 
war,  435-438;  asks  declara- 
tion of  war  on  Austria,  439; 
war  declared,  439;  peace 
terms  of,  446-448. 


INDEX 


479 


Prices.  Effect  of  war  on,  in  U. 
S.,  13,  14;  regulated,  374, 
418-419. 

Prim  Eitel  Friedrich;  enters 
Newport  News,  82;  sinks  the 
William  P.  Frye,  82;  in- 
terned, 85. 

Professors,  the  German,  appeal 
of  "To  the  Civilized  World," 
33. 

Profiteers,  President  appeals  to, 
372-373 ;  Hoover  to,  376. 

Propaganda.  German,  in  U.  S., 
23,  24,  25,  36,  38;  appeal  of 
the  President,  24;  "The 
Truth  About  Germany,"  May- 
or of  Berlin  to  Mayor  of  N. 
Y.  C.,  32;  appeal  of  German 
Professors,  33;  of  German 
Universities,  33;  Dr.  Dern- 
burg,  34;  Baron  von  Schoen, 
34;  the  Turkish  minister,  34, 
35;  shipment  of  munitions, 
36-38 ;  unneutral  acts  charged 
against  U.  S.,  39-44 ;  embargo 
demanded,  135,  136,  137-140, 
143-145,  148-150;  Germany 
denies  any  part  in,  255 ;  Bern- 
hardi,  257. 

Prussia,  old  treaties  with  cited 
and  discussed,  84;  case  of  the 
Appam,  265-267;  attempt  of 
Germany  to  amend,  335-337. 

Railroads,  taken  over  by  Gov- 
ernment, 420-421. 

Eathenau,  Dr.  Walter.  Plan  for 
treatment  of  conquered  na- 
tions; put  in  force  in  Bel- 
gium, 288. 

Reading,  Lord.  Appeal  for 
troops,  432. 

Recruiting,  379-380. 

Red  Cross.  American  aids  Bel- 
gium, 48;  prepares  for  war, 
327. 

Reichstag.    Resolutions  on  sub- 


marine war,  217;  the  Chan- 
cellor on  peace,  290-292. 

Remington  Arms  Co.,  charges 
against,  36,  37-41. 

Republican  party  platform  on 
hyphenates,  265. 

Reservists,  seek  to  go  home,  17, 
18;  false  passports  for,  14, 
158-160,  358. 

"Restitution,  reparation,  guar- 
antees," 292,  312. 

Rheims,  destruction  of  cathe- 
dral, 30. 

Rhinelander,  Bishop,  patriotic 
note,  138. 

"Right  is  more  precious  than 
peace,"  355. 

Rintelen,  Franz  von,  191,  262. 

Rockefeller,  John  D.,  the, 
seized,  52. 

Rome.  Rejoicings  over  our 
declaration  of  war,  360. 

Root,  Elihu,  heads  commission 
to  Russia,  400 ;  reaches  Petro- 
grad,  401;  opinion  of  Russia, 
403. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  denounced 
by  German-American  Alli- 
ance, 263;  reply,  263;  Presi- 
dent declines  to  send  him  to 
France,  377-378;  on  Ger- 
many's peace  offer,  297. 

Roumania.  Lost  to  the  Allies, 
459. 

Rowanmore  torpedoed.  279. 

Ruroede,  Carl.  German  spy, 
158,  159,  160. 

Russia.  Seeks  extension  of  time 
for  Serbia,  4,  5 ;  declines  good 
offices  of  Great  Britain,  6 ; 
asks  mediation,  7;  partial 
mobilization,  7 ;  will  stop  mil- 
itary preparations,  8;  full 
mobilization,  8;  Germany  de- 
mands demobilization,  8 ; 
Germany  declares  war,  9 ;  rev- 
olution in,  348;  the  new  re- 


480 


INDEX 


public,  348;  the  Provisional 
Government,  348 ;  Lenine, 
398;  revolution  in,  398-399; 
Kerensky,  398 ;  American 
Federation  of  Labor  to  Coun- 
cil of  Soldiers'  and  Workmen's 
Delegates,  399 ;  Loan  to,  400 ; 
Commission  sent  to,  400; 
President's  address,  400-401 ; 
German  offer  of  armistice  re- 
jected, 401-402 ;  military  col- 
lapse, 402 ;  loans  to,  403 ; 
Bolshevist  Government,  433- 
434;  German  armistice,  435; 
peace  terms  discussed,  440- 
443,  448 ;  out  of  the  war, 
455;  invaded  by  Germany, 
456-457;  treaty  of  Brest-Li- 
tovsk,  457;  loses  Finland, 
Livonia,  Courland,  Lithuania, 
Ukraine,  Poland,  457;  Presi- 
dent's message  to,  457 ;  Gom- 
pers  to  Soviet  Congress,  457- 
458. 

St.  Mihiel,  American  troops  at, 

430. 

Scheele,  Walter  T.,   262. 
Schoen,  Baron  Wilhelm  von,  34. ' 
Scholz,  Walter,  183. 
"Scrap  of  Paper,"  .11. 
"Self-determination,"  452,  454, 

455. 
Serajevo,       Archduke       Franz 

Ferdinand  murdered  at,  1. 
Serbia.     The  Serajevo  murder, 

1;    Austria's    ultimatum,    3; 

the  reply,  5 ;  war  declared  on, 

5. 
Shaler,  Willard.    Belgian  relief 

work,  45. 
Ships.     Merchant  ships  not  to 

be  sunk  unless  they  resist  or 

flee,  226,  227,  228-229. 
Sinking  without   warning,    66, 

96.  109,  110,  226,  227,  228- 

229,  352,  356,  357. 


Socialists'  opposition  to  regis- 
tration and  draft  and  enlist- 
ment, 387-388,  392-394. 

Spain.  Answers  President's 
note,  298-299;  takes  charge 
of  our  affairs  in  Germany, 
324. 

"Spurlos  versenkt,"  note  of 
Count  Lux-burg,  409-410. 

Stahl,  Gustav.  Lusitama  affi- 
davit, 167. 

Stegler,  Richard  Peter,  162. 

Stone,  Senator.  On  unneutral 
acts  of  U.  S.,  39;  answer  of 
Secretary  Bryan,  39-44;  on 
McLemore  resolution,  246- 
247;  President's  letter  to, 
247. 

"Strict  accountability,"  66. 

Stumm,  Dr.  von.  Explains  de- 
tention of  Gerard,  335. 

Submarines,  The  German. 
British  war  zone,  54 ;  German 
war  zone,  62-65;  sinkings  by, 
65 ;  U.  S.  protests  to  Germany, 
66;  the  reply,  70,  71-73; 
Admiral  Behnke  on  use  of, 
71 :  TJ.  S.  proposes  regulation 
of  submarine  war,  75-76;  re- 
ply of  Germany,  76 ;  policy  of 
the  Allies,  77;  answer  to  the 
Allies,  77-78;  answer  of 
France,  78-79 ;  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, 79-81 ;  sinkings  by,  82 ; 
the  Gushing  bombed,  86 ;  Gul- 
flight  torpedoed,  86;  Lusi- 
tania  sunk,  86-88;  first  Lusi- 
tania  note,  95-97;  Nebraskan 
sunk,  100 ;  reply  of  Germany, 
117-118;  reply  of  the  Presi- 
dent, 121-122 ;  Armenian 
sunk,  120;  the  Orduna,  121; 
Leelanaw  sunk,  123,  124; 
Arabic  sunk,  124;  Hesperian 
sunk,  129-130;  Germany  dis- 
avows responsibility  for  Ara- 
bic, 198 ;  case  of  Orduna,,  200 ; 


INDEX 


481 


Ancona  sunk,  203;  exchange 
of  notes  on  Ancona,  203-210; 
Persia,  sunk,  Austria  explains, 
210-211;  German  note  on 
submarine  war,  211,  214 ;  Sus- 
sex sunk,  215-216;  Reichstag 
resolutions  on  submarine  war, 
217:  British  vessels  sunk, 
216-218;  Sussex  notes,  217- 
221,  229;  Sussex  pledge,  226; 
answer  of  U.  S.,  228-229; 
German  -  Austro  -  Hungarian 
note  on  unrestricted  use,  241 ; 
Lansing  on  use  of,  241-242; 
case  of  the  Deutschland,  271- 
274;  protest  of  the  Allies, 
273-274;  reply  of  Lansing, 
274;  the  U-53  at  Newport, 
276-277;  sinks  ships  off  Nan- 
tucket,  277;  the  Marina,  Ro- 
wanmore,  Arabia  and  other 
ships  sunk,  American  lives 
lost,  279,  280;  more  sinkings, 
279;  Germany  resumes  ruth- 
less submarine  war,  315;  the 
new  zones,  316-318;  treat- 
ment of  American  ships,  316- 
317;  Housatonic  sunk,  327; 
more  sinkings,  329;  Germany 
proposes  discussion,  331;  re- 
ply of  U.  S.,  331 ;  Barthelme 
to  Cologne  Gazette,  331-332; 
Germany's  explanation  of  of- 
fer to  discuss,  332;  City  of 
Memphis,  Illinois,  Vigilancia 
sunk  without  warning,  349; 
number  of  ships  sunk,  397. 
Sussex  sunk,  American  lives 
lost,  215-216;  German  denial, 
218;  President's  note:  "Can 
have  no  other  choice  but  to 
sever  diplomatic  relations," 
219-221;  public  opinion  on 
the  note,  221-223;  Admiral 
von  Holtzendorff  denies  U- 
boat  sank  Sussex,  224;  von 
Jagow  admits,  224-226;  the 


Sussex  pledge,  226;  public 
opinion  on  the  pledge,  227; 
President  refuses  conditions, 
228-229. 

Sussex  pledge,  226,  227,  228- 
229. 

Sweden,  on  mines  and  war  zone, 
54;  exports  to,  56,  57;  Lux- 
burg  letter,  409-411;  von 
Eckhardt  letter,  411. 

Switzerland.  Answers  Presi- 
dent's note,  298;  takes  over 
German  Embassy  in  U.  S., 
324;  Swiss  Minister  sends 
offer  of  Germany  to  discuss 
troubles  with  U.  S.,  331; 
regulation  of  exports  to,  371 ; 
remonstrates,  372. 

Tarnowski,  Count,  Austrian 
Ambassador,  not  received,  359. 

Tauscher,  Hans,  261;  indicted, 
261. 

Tennessee,  the  ruiser,  carries 
gold  to  stranded  Americans, 
16,  17. 

"Too  proud  to  fight,"  94. 

Tournai,  deportations  from, 
282,  283. 

Trading-with-the-enemy  Act, 
418 ;  foreign-language  news- 
papers to  be  licensed,  418- 
419. 

Trotsky,  Leon  (Leber  Braun- 
stein),  overthrow  of  Russian 
Provisional  Government,  433 ; 
Commissary  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, 434;  declares  policy, 
434-435;  sends  peace  dele- 
gates to  Brest-Litovsk,  435; 
armistice,  435;  Allies  must 
declare  attitude,  435;  breaks 
off  peace  negotiations ;  Russia 
out  of  the  war,  455-456; 
treaty  of  Brest-Litovsk,  457. 

"Truth  About  Germany,  The," 
31. 


482 


INDEX 


Tuppel,    Admiral    Oscar    von, 

115-116. 
Tuskania  with  American  troops 

sunk,  427. 

U-58.  German  submarine  sinks 
vessels  off  Nantucket  Island, 
276-277,  278. 

TJ-Boat  in  Central  Park,  N.  Y. 
C.,  415. 

Ukraine,  lost  to  Eussia,  457. 

Ultimata,  to  Serbia,  3;  to  Rus- 
sia, 8;  to  Belgium,  9. 

United  States.  Effect  of  war 
on,  11-14;  stranded  Ameri- 
cans, 14-17;  reservists  in,  17, 
18;  proclamation  of  neutral- 
ity, 18,  19;  effect  on  com- 
merce, 13,  14,  20 ;  Ship  Regis- 
try Bill,  21 ;  War  Risk  Insur- 
ance, 21;  German  propa- 
ganda, 21-26;  Kaiser  pro- 
tests to  President,  26,  27; 
France  protests  to,  27;  an- 
swer to  the  Kaiser,  27;  Bel- 
gium protests,  27,  28 ;  answer 
to  Belgium,  29;  von  Bern- 
storff,  29,  30;  Mayor  of  Ber- 
lin appeals  to  Mayor  of  New 
York,  32,  33 ;  Congress  asked 
to  stop  munition  shipments, 
36,  38 ;  unneutrai  acts  charged 
against,  39-44 ;  Belgian  relief, 
44-50;  Declaration  of  Lon- 
don, 51,  52 ;  Great  Britain  de- 
tains our  ships,  52-54;  pro- 
test of  Mr.  Bryan,  54-55 ;  an- 
swer of  Great  Britain,  56-57; 
case  of  the  Dacia,  58,  59;  of 
the  Wilhelmina,  59,  60,  61, 
62,  74;  Germany  on  food- 
stuffs, 60-62 ;  of  German  War 
Zone,  61-65;  note  on  misuse 
of  flag,  65,  66;  on  German 
War  Zone,  66 ;  answer  of  Ger- 
many, 70 ;  Admiral  Behnke  on 
submarines,  70,  71 ;  U.  S.  pro- 


poses regulation  of  submarine 
war,  75,  76;  reply  of  Ger- 
many, 76 ;  the  Allies  announce 
their  policy,  77 ;  answer  to  the 
Allies,  77,  78;  reply  of 
France,  78;  of  Great  Britain, 
79 :  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich, 
82,  85;  Frye,  84-85;  Oden- 
wald,  83;  Kronprinz  Wilhelm, 
85;  Gushing,  86;  Gulflight, 
86;  Lusitania,  86-92;  first 
Lusitania  note,  95-97;  Ne- 
braskan,  100;  Lusitania,  note 
of  Germany,  101-102;  the 
false  affidavit,  104;  Bryan  re- 
signs, 106;  Lansing  takes  his 
place,  107;  second  Lusitania 
note,  109-111;  von  Jagow's 
answer,  117-118;  will  permit 
use  of  "reasonable  number  of 
neutral  steamers  under  the 
American  flag,"  118;  Nebras- 
kan  note,  120;  Armenian 
sunk,  120;  reply  to  German 
note  on  Lusitania;  will  con- 
sider repetitions  of  sinking 
without  warning  "deliberate- 
ly unfriendly,"  121-122 ;  Ger- 
man-American and  German 
press  on  the  note,  122;  Lee- 
lanaw  sunk,  123-124;  Arabic 
sunk,  124;  German- American 
press  on,  125 ;  Bryan  on,  126 ; 
von  Bernstorff's  note,  126- 
127;  von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
on  the  Arabic,  128 ;  von  Bern- 
storff  promises  liners  will  not 
be  sunk  without  warning,  129, 
130;  Hesperian  sunk,  129; 
Germany  disavows  responsi- 
bility for  Arabic,  128;  case 
of  Orduna,  200;  Ancona 
sunk,  203;  note  to  Austria, 
203;  reply  of  Austria,  205- 
207 ;  reply  of  U.  S.,  208-209 ; 
Austria's  reply,  209;  Persia 
sunk,  210;  Austria  explains, 


INDEX 


483 


210-211;  German  note  on 
submarines,  211-214;  Sttssex 
sunk,  215;  Germany  denies 
responsibility,  218;  severance 
of  diplomatic  relations 
threatened,  219-221;  recep- 
tion of  note  at.  home  and 
abroad,  221-224;  Germany  ad- 
mits sinking,  224-226;  the 
Sussex  pledge;  the  condition, 
226;  condition  not  accepted 
by  U.  S.,  228-229 ;  the  Presi- 
dent on  preparedness,  230- 
231;  measures  in  Congress, 
231-232;  the  President  tours 
the  West,  237-238;  Secretary 
of  War  resigns,  239 ;  German- 
Austro-Hungarian  note  on  re- 
newal of  submarine  frightful- 
ness,  241,  243 ;  Lansing  on  use 
of  submarines,  241-242;  ex- 
citement in  Congress,  243- 
245 ;  McLemore  resolution, 
244;  Gore  resolutions,  249; 
President  forces  a  vote,  251; 
Mexican  border  raided,  253; 
troops  sent,  253;  army  en- 
larged, 254;  von  Igel  papers 
seized,  261-262;  prosecution 
of  plotters,  261,  262,  263; 
case  of  the  Appwm,  265-267; 
censorship  of  the  mails,  268- 
270;  case  of  the  Deutschland, 
271-274;  the  British  Black- 
list, 274,  276;  case  of  the 
Arabia,  279-281;  deportation 
of  Belgians,  action  on,  285- 
289;  transmits  German  peace 
offer,  291 ;  President  asks  bel- 
ligerents to  state  aims,  292- 
294 ;  answer  of  neutrals,  298 ; 
of  Allies,  295,  296;  of  Bel- 
gium, 296 ;  supplementary 
note  from  Great  Britain,  305- 
307;  President's  speech  to 
Congress  on  "peace  without 


victory,"  307-310;  reception 
of  at  home  and  abroad,  310- 
313;  ruthless  submarine  war- 
fare resumed,  315;  the  new 
zones,  316-318;  treatment  of 
American  ships,  316-317;  ex- 
citement in  U.  S.,  318-321; 
German-American  press  on, 
319-320;  diplomatic  relations 
with  Germany  severed,  322- 
324;  Bryan  appeals  to  people 
not  to  enter  war,  325 ;  German 
language  press  on  severance 
of  relations,  325-326;  prep- 
arations for  war,  327-328; 
more  sinkings,  329;  Asquith 
and  Law  on  our  break  with 
Germany,  330;  treatment  of 
Yarrowdale  prisoners  by  Ger- 
many, 333-334;  of  Gerard, 
334,  335;  Germany  seeks  to 
amend  old  Prussian  treaties, 
335-336 ;  Bethmann-Hollweg 
on  relations  with  America, 
338;  bill  to  arm  American 
merchantmen,  341,  342 ; 
President  asks  power  to  arm, 
341-342 ;  Germany  proposes 
Mexico- Japanese  alliance  and 
war  against  U.  S.,  343;  fili- 
buster in  the  Senate;  bill  to 
arm  lost,  344-345;  the  Presi- 
dent to  the  people,  345-347; 
Senate  rules  amended,  347; 
special  session  called,  347; 
U-boats  sink  three  American 
ships;  Declaration  of  War 
asked,  350-355 ;  resolution  de- 
claring a  state  of  war,  355- 
356,  359 ;  Austria  severs  rela- 
tions, 359;  effect  of  declara- 
tion on  South  America,  363; 
British  mission,  363-364 ; 
French  mission,  364 ;  German 
vessels  seized,  365;  mobiliza- 
tion of  industries,  366-369; 
embargo  on  exports,  370;  neu- 


484- 


INDEX 


trals  seek  food,  371-372; 
Food  Control  Bill,  374; 
mobilization  of  the  army  and 
navy,  378-379,  390,  396; 
loans  to  the  Allies,  380;  the 
Liberty  Loan,  380-383;  the 
draft,  383-394;  our  troops 
reach  France,  377,  394-395; 
the  mission  to  Russia,  400; 
loans  to  Russia,  400,  403; 
President's  address  to  Russia, 
400-401;  the  Pope's  peace 
note  and  answer,  403-404, 
406-407;  "Spurlos  versenkt" 
note,  410-411;  von  Eckhardt 
note,  411;  von  Bernstorff 
seeks  to  influence  Congress, 
411-412;  von  Igel  papers 
seized,  412-415 ;  war  measures, 
418-432;  the  President  on 
the  War,  435-438;  war  de- 
clared on  Austria,  438, 
439. 

Universities,  The  German.  Ap- 
peal of,  33. 

Uruguay,  363. 


Vanceboro,  Maine.  Attempt  to 
destroy  bridge,  160-161. 

"Victory  bread,"  425. 

Vigilancia  sunk,  349. 

Villa,  253. 

Viviani,  Rene,  10.  Comes  to 
U.  S.,  364 ;  receives  Pershing, 
395. 


Wanamaker,  John.  Belgian  re- 
lief work,  48. 

War  Gardens,  368-369,  374. 

Warren,  Whitney,  on  Rheims 
Cathedral,  30; 

Waste.     Hoover*  on,  376. 

Wedell,  Hans  Adam,  158-160. 

Welland  Canal.  Attempt  to 
blow  up,  257-261. 


Wheat,  price  fixed,  376; 
"wheatless  week"  consump- 
tion cut  down,  424;  Lord 
Rhondda  appeals  for,  424; 
substitutes,  425;  ration,  425; 
"Victory  bread,"  425;  wheat- 
less  days,  426. 

Whitlock,  Brand.  Belgian  re- 
lief work,  45,  46,  47;  on  de- 
portation of  Belgians,  284, 
288-289 ;  relief  work,  337. 

Wilhelmina,  the,  case  of,  59,  60, 
61,  62,  74,  145-146. 

Winchester  Arms  Co.,  charges 
against,  36,  37,  41. 

William  II.,  King  of  Prussia 
and  German  Emperor.  Pro- 
tests to  President,  26 ;  answer 
of  the  President,  27;  peace 
offers,  290;  address  to  army, 
291. 

Women's  Peace  Party,  140. 

Women.  Asked  to  save  food, 
370;  appeal  of  the  President 
to,  373-374. 

Wood,  General  Leonard.  On 
preparedness,  134. 

"World  must  be  made  safe  for 
democracy,"  354. 


Yarrowdde,  The  Case  of,  307; 
treatment  of  the  prisoners, 
333,  334. 


Zimmermann,  Dr.  Alfred,  Un- 
der-Secretary  of  State,  11 ;  on 
Lusitarda,  212-213 ;  confer- 
ence with  Gerard,  116;  pro- 
poses Mexico  join  Japan  in 
war  on  U.  S.,  343,  344;  de- 
struction of  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  414. 

Zones,  North  Sea,  a  military, 
54;  German  Zone  around 
British  Isles,  62-65 ;  the  Sus- 


INDEX 


485 


sex  pledge,  226,  227,  228-229; 
new  war  zones,  316-318 ;  treat- 
ment of  American  ships,  316- 
317;  neutrals  protest  against, 
66,  324-325;  Germany^  de- 


fense, 70;  Admiral  Behnke 
on,  70,  71 ;  around  the  Azores. 
428. 

Zwiediuek,   Baron   Erich,   Aus- 
trian charge,  186,  210. 


9718 


A     000672324     1 


